The Piece of Me I Wish I Didn't Need- Tragedy
by Monthadog
Summary: Book one in a series of three. Everything changes one day for Stan Marsh when Craig Tucker begins passing a note with him during a math final. Now Stan is finding himself attending more parties than he ever thought he would and falling for the school's "bad boy". Craig has been hiding the secret of his horrible home life from everyone but his close friends.


Chapter 1: "Ain't No Other Man"

"_You're the kinda guy, a girl finds in a blue moon. _

_You've got soul, you got class. _

_You got style, you're bad ass."_

The last day of finals approached its end as the few students with their tests remaining on their desks wracked their brains for the solutions to the problems in front of them. Stan Marsh had already handed in his packet of math problems and sat mindlessly doodling on a scratch sheet of paper. It would appear as though Craig Tucker was doing the same thing at the desk across from the boy in the letterman jacket. As the paper he was scribbling on was folded twice, placed on the floor, and kicked over to the books which were stacked near Stan's feet it seemed as though he was up to something else entirely. The movement was caught by the corner of Stan's eye and he looked down to the floor next to him and saw the folded up piece of notebook paper waiting for him. The jock leaned down to retrieve the paper and tentatively held it in his fingers.

With a quick glace around, Stan unfolded the paper and smoothed it out onto his desk. On the first line of the paper Stan read the small neat handwriting that asked, "_Are you going to Token's party tonight?_" A few things were very peculiar about this situation. The first thing that struck Stan as odd was the fact that Craig Tucker had just passed him a note. Stan Marsh and Craig Tucker didn't communicate with each other, much less pass notes in class. There was no real reason for the animosity between the two. In elementary school their groups of friends were very competitive with each other to the point of being considered rivals. The stigma remained with the boys throughout the years until it just became a universally accepted fact that Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman do not socialize with Craig Tucker, Token Black, Clyde Donovan, and Tweek Tweak.

The second thing that struck Stan as odd about the note was that, as Token Black's friend, Craig should have known that Stan never attended the large house parties that the affluent boy hosts every year. Along with some seasonal festivities, Token has traditionally thrown an "end of the school year" party for all the kids in their class that usually ends up being the main source of gossip for the rest of the summer. The uncertain teen grabbed his pencil and wrote a response in his sloppy handwriting on the line underneath the one Craig had written on. "_No, I don't ever go to those kinds of things._" Stan neatly refolded the paper and dropped it off the side of his desk then pushed it into the direction of Craig's desk with his foot in an attempt at making it look as though he wasn't passing a note.

Craig leaned over in his seat and grabbed the paper from the floor, not even trying to hide his actions. Rustling could be heard as the raven-haired teen unfolded the note to read the other boy's response. It didn't take very long for the paper to once again be sliding across the floor towards Stan's belongings. The jock leaned down and pretended to look for a particular book before grabbing the note and returning it to his desk with a quick glance in his teacher's direction. The old woman appeared to be too busy grading finals to notice the illicit note passing that was taking place. Stan unfolded the note once again and looked to the third line of the paper to read what Craig had written this time. "_I think you should go. All the other football guys are usually there._"

Craig's handwriting really surprised Stan. He wasn't really sure what he was expecting the nearly stoic boy's penmanship to look like but he certainly wasn't anticipating the smaller than average letters or how neatly they were written. After taking a moment to admire the inked words on the page that stood out in dark contrast to his graphite scratched sentences he wrote his reply. "_I don't really hang out with them too much outside of the game. I'd rather stay home._" He then carefully refolded the paper and slipped it back in Craig's direction while keeping his eyes on the teacher. The blue-eyed recipient noticed how inconspicuous Stan was trying to be and felt a smirk tug at the corners of his lips.

With reckless abandon Craig once again scooped the note off the floor and unfolded it noisily. The teacher looked up from grading papers for a moment but by the time she looked over in Craig's direction it just looked like he was doodling on a paper. Stan held his breath at the close call and felt a wave of relief wash over him when the old woman returned her attention to grading papers. The raven-haired teen glanced over at Craig to see him writing out his response and noticed that the other dark-haired boy was writing with his left hand. Craig held the folded note in his hand and looked over at Stan briefly making eye contact with the football player. His face remained expressionless as he extended his arm and dropped the paper near the stack of books on the floor. Craig went back to blankly watching the teacher decorate the class's test with her red pen as Stan retrieved their written conversation.

The preppy teen felt his face get warm when he looked to the fifth line on the paper and read the pretty words in black ink. "_That's too bad. I'd like to see you there._" Stan suddenly found himself a bit flustered. Other than having a reputation for being a huge asshole with little regard for other people's feelings, Stan didn't really know much about Craig. He thought the other boy was extremely attractive, as did most of the school's female population, and was actually intrigued by his bad boy image. However, Craig's group and Stan's group do not socialize. The more the blue eyed teen thought about it, the more excited and nervous he felt about potentially getting to know Craig. He hoped the other boy wouldn't notice the slight color in his cheeks as he wrote his reply. "_Is that an invitation then?_"

He dropped the note to the floor and slid it towards Craig with his foot as the sensation of butterflies overtook his body. The stoic boy penned a short response and to Stan's surprise began crumpling up the paper their conversation was on. The jock watched in curiosity as the paper was noisily transformed into a ball. "Mr. Tucker, do you mind?" the teacher hissed in a harsh warning. Craig gave the old woman a blank look before chucking the paper ball at Stan, which bounced off the boy's shoulder and landed on the floor between their desks. "Mr. Tucker!" the old woman shrieked in outrage. Craig simply flipped her off while maintaining a bored visage as the final bell for the day rang. Stan quickly grabbed the paper ball out of the aisle as everyone made a mad dash to leave the classroom.

"That's one student I won't miss," Stan heard the elderly teacher mutter. The dark-haired teen looked around to see if Craig had heard her but discovered that he had already collected his belongings and left the room. He looked down at the crumpled ball of paper in his hand and carefully began straightening it out. The teacher paid him no mind as the sound of the rustling paper filled the empty classroom. Exquisitely written in black ink on the seventh line down were the words, "_If you want it to be._"

* * *

"Tell me again why we aren't vegging out tonight playing video games?" Kyle sighed on the other end of the phone conversation. Stan held his cell phone to his ear with his shoulder for a moment to continue his conversation with his best friend as he held a shirt up to his bare chest in front of a mirror.

"Because dude, I'm going to that end of the year party thing at Token's," the blue eyed young man explained and tossed the shirt he had been holding on to his bed then went back to his closet to rummage some more.

"Since when do you go to Token's parties?" the Jewish boy inquired.

"Well I don't normally," Stan clarified, yanking another shirt off the rack and returning to the mirror with it. "I was sort of invited," he admitted innocently.

"Invited?' Kyle's voice echoed. "By who?" he asked in shock. Stan pushed the speaker button on his phone and placed it on his bed before pulling the dark blue Hollister shirt on.

"Craig Tucker," his answer was slightly muffled by the fabric of the shirt as it came down over his head.

"What was that?' Kyle demanded after Stan picked up his phone and switched it off of speaker.

"I said Craig Tucker invited me," the jock repeated exasperated while refocusing his search for clothing on his dresser drawers.

"Craig Tucker invited you to a Token Black party?" the ginger questioned skeptically.

"Yes," Stan sighed and extracted a pair of faded blue jeans that had holes worn in the knees from one of the drawers. He cradled the phone with his shoulder again as he stepped into the jeans and pulled them over his boxers.

"You talk to Craig now?" Kyle asked incredulously. Stan pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Not normally," the jock repeated while slipping on a green rubber World Wildlife Fund bracelet. He glanced at the digital clock that was on his nightstand and saw that it was eight thirty. He had called Kenny up when he got home from school to see if he knew what time the party started that night since he always goes to them. Kenny was a bit of a party animal. The blonde had informed him that they usually began at seven so Stan figured he would get there by about eight but he couldn't figure out what to wear and was now running behind. "Basically, Craig started passing a note with me today after our math final and he pretty much invited me to the party tonight," the dark-haired youth explained.

"That's really weird, dude. Just out of nowhere he decided to start passing notes with you?" Kyle pointed out in a suspicious tone. Stan sat on the floor by his bed to put on his worn out Adidas.

"You aren't mad about me canceling on you tonight are you?" Stan asked with guilt evident in his voice.

"No! Not at all," his best friend assured. "I mean it's the first night of summer vacation. We could easily just hang out some other night."

"Good," Stan was relieved. He hated that he bailed on his friend last minute but the prospect of seeing Craig outside of school was incredibly alluring. "We could do it tomorrow night," he offered.

"Yeah tomorrow night's good," Kyle agreed. "I'll probably go ahead and get started on my summer reading assignments."

"Dude, you are so lame!" Stan laughed.

"Hey! We are going to be seniors next year! I just want to make sure I am prepared," the Jew defended.

"Whatever you say," Stan chortled.

"By the way Stanley," Kyle addressed in a tone that implied he was on to something. "Do I detect nervous excitement in you voice?" Stan felt his face heat up immediately.

"I don't know, do you?" he asked in order to avoid giving an answer.

"Why ever would you be so giddy over to this party tonight?" Kyle feigned an overly innocent demeanor, which made Stan nervous. "Unless… unless you _like_ him?" Of course nothing could get passed Kyle. The two had known each other for far too long to be able to conceal anything from the other.

"Kind of," Stan admitted shyly.

"Mmhmm," Kyle hummed triumphantly, pleased that he was right. "Well have fun, I'm sure I'm keeping you."

"Alright, see you later," Stan said as he ended the call and pulled himself off the floor grabbing his keys and wallet before heading out.

* * *

Stan could feel the bass from the music in his chest as he squeezed passed a few people standing at the back door to Token's mansion. The rear gates had been kept open allowing people to come and go through the back yard. There was definitely more people at the party than just South Park High students Stan noted as M.I.A.'s "Bad Girls" blared throughout the large house. It seemed like people were moving all over the place. There had been at least fifteen teenagers in the back yard, some in the pool, and even the kitchen the dark-haired teen found himself standing in was crowded. Assorted drinks and finger foods had been set up on an island in the middle of the room and several people were either standing around chatting, refilling their cups, or on their way to another location in the house. The air was smoky, everything was loud, and off to the side a beer pong game was in full swing and bystanders raucously cheered on the players. Stan recognized some of the partygoers around him but there were just as many that he had never seen before.

The jock felt intimidated by his wild surroundings and he suddenly wished he had arrived with Kenny so he could have someone familiar to cling to as he got used to everything. He figured the sooner he found Craig the better off he would be considering the taller noirette had convinced him to show up to this thing in the first place. Stan began making his way through the kitchen and wound up finding the living room, which was packed with people as well. The center of the room was a frenzy of movement, serving as the dance floor for the evening. Stan couldn't even see the other side of the room past all of the moving bodies.

"Hey Stan!" the dark-haired boy heard a familiar voice shout over the din. Stan looked around and saw Kenny approaching him looking disheveled with a busty brunette latched onto his arm.

"Kenny!" Stan shouted, relieved to find a friend among the chaos.

"It's so weird seeing you at one of these parties, man! What made you decide to not be a grandma tonight?" the blonde asked jokingly. Stan rolled his eyes at his friend.

"Craig invited me to this one," he said as he leaned closer to Kenny to be heard over the music. Kenny's eyebrows went up

"Invited by one of the co-hosts of the party," Kenny seemed impressed. "That kinda makes you like a VIP guest or something."

"Whatever Kenny!" Stan laughed. "Have you seen Craig anywhere?" The girl on Kenny's arm was looking bored and Kenny slipped his hand lower on her waist.

"Motherfucker Tucker? Yeah, he's over there on the couch," the blonde motioned with his head. "He's pretty fucked up too," he grinned as if he had witnessed some sort of amusing drunken display from the normally stoic teen.

"He is?" Stan asked in surprise.

"Yep," the blonde confirmed. "Now if you'll excuse me I have a very attractive young lady to entertain." The football player watched his friend wander off giggling with the brunette then began making his way through the crowded room to find Craig.

When Stan finally spotted the couch, he saw that Craig was indeed sitting on one end of it but he was turned sideways intently staring down Clyde Donovan who mirrored the dark-haired teen's position on the other end of the couch. There were several empty shot glasses on the coffee table next to the two boys and Craig's chullo hat sat haphazardly on his head.

"What's going on?" Stan asked a girl that stood closest to him.

"Those two keep challenging each other to staring contests. Whoever loses each round has to take a shot," she explained.

"Seriously?" Stan found himself asking out loud. It didn't take very long before the game seemed to end.

"You blinked, Craig," Clyde said happily although still staring down his opponent.

"No I didn't, you're just so drunk you thought you saw me blink," Craig argued, never taking his eyes off of Clyde.

"Dude! You totally blinked!" the chubbier of the two defended. "I'm not even- not even that drunk."

"You're not even that drunk," Craig argued back.

"What?" Clyde asked in confusion.

"What?" the noirette echoed back. Clyde broke his gaze and stood from the couch.

"Fuck you, dude, you lost," he said before heading off to the kitchen. Craig flipped off his retreating friend and grabbed a full shot glass, downing it without hesitation. Stan decided to finally approach the teen in the chullo hat.

"Hi Craig," the jock greeted before taking a seat next to the other boy on the couch. The taller teen's eyes flickered over towards the person that had just sat next to him.

"Hey, you actually came," he sounded slightly surprised. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were glazed.

"Yeah, I decided to come check it out and see what was so great about it," Stan said in mock irritation. "Plus, you seemed to want me to come pretty bad," he added with a shy smile. Craig's lips twitched into a shit- eating grin.

"Well I wanted to see you outside of school. I think you're kind of interesting," Craig stated.

"Oh really?" Stan asked in intrigue. "Well, you got me out here to this party now what are you going to do with me?" Craig's icy blue eyes rolled towards the ceiling as he appeared pensive.

"I suppose since it's you're first time here and all I could give you a mini tour of the place," the intoxicated teen suggested.

"Sounds good," Stan agreed. The football player stood from the couch with ease and watched as Craig attempted to support himself on his feet, nearly falling back onto the couch in the process. "You okay?" Stan asked and Craig simply waved him off.

"Alright then," the taller male began, grabbing onto Stan's shoulder for support as he leaned closer to his ear to be heard over the noise. "This is the living room. Whenever Token has his parties this room is usually where most of the people gather, probably because it's the biggest room. Everyone in here has to be alive and shit because it's a living room. Living people move around a lot," Craig explained. Stan chuckled a bit at Craig's drunken rambling. The shorter raven- haired teen noticed that Craig seemed to be demonstrating a wider range of emotions and facial expressions than he would normally due to his inebriated state.

"Follow me," Craig instructed before latching onto Stan's arm and pulling him through the crowded room. The two wound their way through the room until they stood near the front door and at the foot of the stairs. "If you go up there it leads to a bunch of more awesome rooms like Token's bedroom but we aren't going to go up there. I really don't feel like going up stairs right now and I think I forgot how to use them anyway."

"You forgot how to use the stairs?" Stan asked and attempted to fight back his laughter.

"Let's not get into that right now," Craig dodged while staring down the staircase. Stan was about to say something else when the sound of someone calling his name caught his attention.

"Stan? What are you doing here?" Wendy stood a few feet away with a red plastic cup in her hand. Stan noted how his classmate's outfit choice left little to the imagination. Red high-heeled shoes stood out from her little black mini skirt and low cut black halter-top.

"Oh, hey, Wendy," Stan greeted politely. "I just decided to come check the party out tonight to see what I've been missing."

"Wow, you look really slutty," Craig stated from right over Stan's shoulder. The jock jumped in fright and looked over his shoulder to see the taller boy standing close behind him.

"Well you're looking like a giant asshole, Craig," Wendy shot back. "Are you actually hanging around this douche bag, Stan?"

"Um," the shorter of the two male teenagers hesitated and glanced back over towards Craig. He wasn't sure what he was hoping to gain by looking back at the other boy, but he was momentarily mesmerized when his eyes locked with Craig's glazed icy blue ones. "He's not really that bad," Stan replied quietly.

"Wow! Okay!" Wendy shouted sarcastically while rolling her eyes. Stan felt a bit guilty as the girl stormed off but it was true, she did look pretty slutty.

"Alright, anyways," Craig got Stan's attention again. "What do you think so far?"

"It's loud," Stan laughed.

"So you hate it?" Craig smirked. Stan felt his breath hitch.

"No! No, I didn't mean that!" the preppy teen back pedaled.

"You don't have to bullshit me. I know that was code for 'I really fucking don't want to be here and don't have anything good to say about the situation but I don't want to hurt your feelings.' You can just go ahead and say it, Stan. You won't hurt my feelings, I promise." The tall dark-haired teen was giving the other boy a look reminiscent of an 'I-told-you-so' stance but the grin remained in place. Stan noticed that Craig seemed to smile much more when he was drunk.

"Alright, fine, it's not exactly my scene," Stan admitted a bit embarrassed. "It has nothing to do with you though. You're pretty cool," he added.

"I know," Craig responded with a wink. Stan laughed and lightly punched the other's arm. "I think we should head back to the living room or kitchen or something. It probably looks weird that we're just hanging out in the entry way."

"Yeah, I guess it probably does," Stan laughed again. Craig began leading the way toward the kitchen and Stan held onto his shoulder in an attempt to not lose him in the crowd. Just as the two got to the entrance of the kitchen, shouts and laughter were heard in the living room. Stan clutched Craig's shoulder tighter and stood closer behind him in case something was about to go down. He didn't have to wonder what the commotion was for long because suddenly a very naked Butters went running through the kitchen.

"Outta the way fellas! I'm leading a movement!" the blonde boy yelled as he bolted out the back door and could be seen through the large windows making a beeline for the pool. Without hesitation, the nude teen cannon balled into the deep end.

"I think he's under the impression that other people are streaking with him," Token announced to the somewhat stunned partygoers after watching Butters through the window for a bit.

"Someone must've slipped something to Butters," Craig thought out loud as the noise level of the party gradually returned to its previous state. Stan gave a nervous laugh as Craig stumbled through the kitchen and led the way to the living room. "You know what, Stan?" the drunken teen turned to face the other boy with a sloppy grin on his face. "I think you're fucking awesome! I don't care what other people say!"

"Why? What do other people say about me?" Stan asked worriedly.

"I don't know. Probably how fucking awesome you are," Craig guessed.

"You're so drunk right now," the football player giggled, hoping the other teen wouldn't notice the slight reddening of his face.

"This song is fucking amazing! You should come dance with me," Craig announced suddenly when the song changed to "Sweet Nothing" by Calvin Harris.

"Dance? I don't know," Stan protested as Craig pulled him by the arm towards the mass of dancing teenagers in the living room.

"C'mon, try to have some fun. You're seventeen, not seventy," Craig reasoned.

"I'm actually sixteen," the sober teen corrected.

"Shit, I thought you were the same age as me," the taller boy seemed surprised. "Either way, loosen up some." Stan glanced around him to assure himself no one was going to be judging him as Craig moved his body to the music in front of him. Satisfied that nobody seemed to be paying them any attention he began to dance as well. The music was so loud it was easy to completely lose themselves in it and midway through the song the two raven- haired teens had gravitated much closer toward each other. Their movements became a bit more sensual as they danced against one another, their crotches brushing occasionally. Stan could feel that Craig had become hard and was sure that the other teen could tell that he had actually become aroused as well.

As they danced, Stan couldn't help but feel extremely attracted to Craig and made up his mind that he definitely had a crush on the taller boy. A very big crush. Stan wrapped his arms around Craig's neck as he moved his body against him, wanting to be as close as possible. The song approached its end as Craig leaned down to Stan's ear and slurred, "We could go upstairs right now and fuck." Stan shivered at the sensation of Craig's hot breath on his ear and the words that he said. The song ended and the two stopped dancing.

"I think I'd like to get to know you better first," Stan smiled coyly. "Plus, I'd like for you to be sober too," he added while noting how intoxicated Craig really looked.

"Okay, that's fine," Craig agreed.

"Do you wanna hang out tomorrow?" Stan asked.

"Sure, what did you have in mind?"

Stan thought for a moment. "Just meet me at Stark's Pond at noon. Are you going to remember that tomorrow?" he wondered considering how drunk the other was.

"I don't know. I should," Craig shrugged. Stan looked around the room and saw a pen on one of the tables so he picked it up and grabbed Craig's hand. He wrote 'Stark's Pond 12' on the dark haired boy's palm then returned the pen to the table.

"There. You should see that tomorrow," Stan said triumphantly. Craig looked a bit woozy. "Maybe you should go sit down," the jock suggested. "I'm going to head out. It's getting kinda late. I'll see you tomorrow," he smiled.

"See you, Stan," the older boy grinned and leaned in to give Stan a good-bye hug, which the shorter teen accepted eagerly.

"Be careful," Stan told him seriously. Craig nodded and then ventured further into the party. Stan couldn't stop smiling the entire drive home.

* * *

Stan's phone was lit up on his nightstand when he entered his room in a towel after taking his morning shower. He picked it up to find a text message from Kenny waiting for him.

'_Dude!_ _What time did u leave the party? Did u see what Craig did last nite?'-Kenny_

'What did Craig do last night?' Stan thought to himself. 'He was incredibly drunk so maybe he projectile vomited on someone. Maybe he passed out in an embarrassing place.' Stan quickly texted a response to his gossiping friend.

'I think I left before anyone else did. What did he do?'- Stan

The raven- haired boy anxiously waited for Kenny's response as he dressed himself quickly. Finally his phone lit up again.

'Some guy was talking shit about him so Craig beat the fuck out of him!'-Kenny

Stan felt his stomach drop instantly. Did Craig really do that? He seemed so harmless while Stan had been with him. Stan glanced at the clock and saw that it was eleven. He would need to leave soon to meet Craig at Stark's Pond. He decided to ask Kenny all his questions so he would know what to expect when he met up with the other boy.

'Is Craig ok? Is he in trouble? What happened to the guy? What did he say? Craig seemed like he was in a pretty good mood when I left! –Stan

He began putting his shoes on while he waited for a response which, luckily, came quickly.

_'Whoa, calm ur tits! Every1 else thought he was ok 2 but whatever this guy said just made him snap. Probably bc he was drunk but he's an asshole sober so I don't kno. Craig is fine but the guy might've lost a tooth. LOL' –Kenny_

Without really thinking about how telling it would be, Stan texted a response back.

_'Well I'm glad Craig is ok.' –Stan_

_'U need to be careful with him, dude. I've seen him get drunk at lots of parties and u never kno if he's going to go off on some1. This isn't the first time something like this has happened. He's kind of an ass when he's sober and I kno for a fact he smokes pot bc my bro is his dealer.' –Kenny_

Stan read Kenny's response carefully and was surprised to find out that Craig smoked pot. He looked at the time on his phone and determined that he really needed to get going if he was going to make it in time.

_'I really like him, Ken. He probably only drinks like that at parties. I think he just seems like an asshole because he says things that other people are too afraid to say out loud. As for the pot, as long as he's not doing anything heavier than that I'm ok with it.' –Stan_

With that, Stan shoved his phone into his pocket and hurried downstairs to the kitchen.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Sharon Marsh asked from her seat at the table.

"I've got a date," Stan answered as he threw the last of his supplies into a backpack.

"Well, have fun," his mother was able to reply before he bolted from the kitchen shouting back a "thanks".

When the jock finally arrived at the park five minutes late he didn't see any sign of Craig already being there so he began to set up his stuff. He had planned on having a picnic in the park and brought a blanket, some fruit and cheese, and some sparkling apple cider. He hoped Craig didn't think it was too cliché. Once everything was laid out in its place Stan sat near the edge of the blanket watching the sidewalk that he knew Craig would be arriving from. It felt like he had been waiting forever so he pulled his phone out to check the time. It was nearly thirty-five minutes past noon. Maybe Craig had forgotten about meeting him today.

Just as he was beginning to freak out he saw Craig come gliding down the sidewalk on a skateboard with a cigarette in his mouth. He spotted where Stan was and hopped off the board, picking it up to carry it under his arm across the grass to meet the shorter dark haired boy. When he reached the edge of the blanket he set the board down and put his cigarette out on the bottom of his shoe before sitting down.

"Didn't mean to be late. I have a bitch of a hangover today," Craig halfway apologized.

"I didn't know you skateboard," Stan commented in amusement.

"Well I don't have a car and it's faster than walking," the taller boy shrugged.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the dark blue-eyed teen apologized.

"It doesn't really matter," Craig shrugged again. "One day I'll be able to save up for one I guess." Stan felt a small twinge of guilt due to the fact that his own parents had given him an old used truck for his sixteenth birthday whereas Craig was a whole year older than him and had to buy his own car for himself. Craig, however, was studying the set up around them.

"So, I take it you don't give a fuck if people know you're gay. There's nothing more subtle than two guys picnicking in the afternoon with fake champagne," he remarked.

"I- I'm sorry!" Stan stammered as his face became considerably redder. "I mean, I'm pretty open about it but I didn't even think about whether you are or not. Oh my God, this probably wasn't even supposed to be a date was it?" He had taken to covering his face with his hands in order to block out the embarrassing situation.

"Chill out, you're making my head hurt worse," Craig stated bluntly. Stan looked up from his hands to meet Craig's icy blue ones. "First off, I don't give a shit what people think about me so I don't care if it looks like we're on a date. I'm bi but I'm not going to put up a billboard about it. If I like someone I let the person know and then it's between me and them."

"Second, yes this is a date. I'm sure we've established that I like you." He then winced and pulled out another cigarette from his shirt pocket. He wore a plaid black and blue long sleeve button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and all the buttons undone, exposing the black wife beater underneath. "Jesus, why am I talking so much? Are we going to break out that fake champagne or what?" he asked while lighting up the cigarette between his lips.

"Oh, yeah," Stan fumbled around for the cups he brought then poured Craig some of the sparkling apple cider. He was also surprised that Craig had spoken so much at once, he usually kept everything short and to the point. As he handed the plastic cup to Craig he noticed how raw and red the other boy's knuckles looked.

"I heard that you got in a fight last night at the party. What happened?" Stan asked carefully.

"Some stupid prick got what was coming to him is what happened," he responded after a sip of apple cider.

"Oh?" Stan asked in surprise, not quite expecting that answer. When it seemed like Craig wasn't going to elaborate he quietly asked, "What did he do?"

"He was talking a bunch of shit that's none of his god damn business," Craig stated sharply feeling a flare of anger at the thought of the incident.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad," Stan immediately apologized. The anger that had clouded Craig's icy blue eyes faded away and left them with their usual bored expression.

"It's okay. There's just this one thing about me that- ugh," the taller teenager became flustered while he tried to find a way to explain himself without giving too much away. "I don't like it when people know things about me that they shouldn't," he finally settled on. Stan looked a bit confused but just smiled and offered him a piece of fruit. Craig took the fruit from Stan and studied him for a moment. "This is why I like you. You're just so different from everybody else. I tell you that I'm actually a pretty fucked up person and you just play it off like it's nothing and give me food." Stan laughed at this.

"Well I figure you'll tell me what it is eventually when you're ready. I'm not going to bug you about it if it's something that makes you beat the shit out of people for knowing," the jock explained. Craig nodded as he blew smoke between his lips.

"So what was you're plan for this date thing? Are we just going to sit here and eat fruit?" he asked.

"We could also talk," Stan suggested. "I'd like to get to know you better." Now it was his turn to shrug.

"What do you want to know?" Craig asked leaning back on his hands with his cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"I don't know- what's your favorite music?" Stan asked the first question that came to his mind suddenly feeling put on the spot.

"Jazz and oldies," Craig answered and put his dwindling cigarette out. "What about you?"

"For real?" Stan asked, too surprised by the answer he had gotten to realize that the question was now directed at him. "That's so unexpected. How come those are your favorite?" he continued. Craig gave him a blank look for a moment.

"Because they sound the most appealing to me?" he responded as if the answer were so obvious. "I mean that's almost like asking someone why blue is their favorite color. There's not really a good way to explain that answer."

"Oh, sorry," Stan laughed once he had realized his mistake. "Is blue your favorite color?" he added as an afterthought.

"Is this a one sided interrogation or am I going to ask you questions too?" The sharp look in Craig's eyes would have made anyone else think he was trying to be mean but, somehow, Stan caught the slight undertone of amusement in his voice that seemed to say, 'You sure do have a lot of questions'.

"I guess I am getting a little ahead of myself," Stan smiled. "I'll shut up now," he promised. Craig took another sip of his beverage before speaking again.

"Yes my favorite color is blue," he answered while shooting the other teen a small glare. "What kind of music do you like to listen to?" he asked once again. Stan ate a few cubes of cheese as he thought over his answer.

"I guess I'm going to have to go with pop and metal," he decided. Craig raised an eyebrow at him.

"Those are two very different genres," the older teen commented. Stan nodded.

"I like many different kinds of music but if I had to pick two favorites those are the ones I would go with," he explained. "You get to ask me another question now since I kinda snuck in the 'what's your favorite color' question."

"Alright," Craig shifted his position to sit cross- legged on the edge of the blanket like Stan was doing. "I'm not going to ask you a stupid question like what is your favorite color, though." Stan stuck his tongue out at him. Even though it was said in a serious tone that would not indicate that Craig was teasing him at all, Stan knew that the other teen was teasing him about his silly question. This was exactly what set Stan apart from most of the student population of South Park High. It's not like Craig was the most hated guy in school, he was mostly adored for his good looks, his personality was just one that very few people understood. Before he began getting to know Stan Marsh, the only people that were able to decode him were Token, Clyde, and Tweek, but he could tell already that the other dark haired teen across from him was going to be added to that short list.

The two interrogated each other back and forth for almost an hour before the inevitable question popped up that always makes an appearance whenever question games are played. "Are you a virgin?" Of course, Craig was the one that asked it. He appeared to remain stoic but curiosity flickered in his cold eyes as he watched Stan's stunned face turn pink.

"Well, um," Stan gathered his courage as he prepared to admit to something he swore he would never speak of. "Sometimes whenever Kenny and I are at each other's house and we get really bored we fool around a little bit," he said while looking at the blanket instead of looking at Craig's face.

"What do you mean by fool around?" the taller boy pressed for details seeing how embarrassed Stan appeared to be. "Do you guys fuck each other?"

"Oh my god! Craig!" Stan shouted completely red in the face by this point.

"What?" Craig smirked, knowing that his straight forwardness was what was making the other teen squirm. Stan looked back down at the picnic blanket and let out a deep breath.

"It's mostly just blow jobs," he said quietly.

"Mostly?" Craig pointed out in intrigue. Stan shot him a look that made it clear that he had not meant to give anything away by choosing the word mostly and was surprised Craig had picked up on that small detail.

"He, uh, he fingered me once," the younger teen added uncomfortably. "Please don't tell anyone this!" he implored, finally looking Craig in the eye and seeing that he looked thoroughly amused.

"Why in the hell would I tell anyone that you and Kenny fucked around?" he asked without lowering his voice from a normal speaking level. A woman who happened to be walking nearby with her toddler gave him a nasty look and sped up her pace to pass by him quicker.

"Don't say it so loud!" Stan seemed mortified. Craig just raised his middle finger in the direction the lady had been in.

"What difference does it make? You'll probably never see that woman again for the rest of your life plus she doesn't know who the fuck Kenny is," he said in his bored way. Stan groaned and took several sips of his nearly empty cup of apple cider. "I wasn't trying to scar you for life. I just think maybe you are cute when you are so embarrassed like that," he gave Stan what would appear to be a completely blank look but when Stan looked up at him he could see the admiration that was being conveyed to him. The shorter boy smiled contently at Craig.

"Alright then, are _you_ a virgin?" Stan directed the question back at the raven-haired boy across from him with a satisfied grin.

"No," Craig immediately answered and popped a grape into his mouth. Stan's grin fell. Craig's answer wasn't supposed to be that easy. He couldn't just come straight out with a yes or no answer and have it be over just like that- not after the turmoil Stan had experienced while answering the same question.

"Of course not," the jock muttered in disappointment. He wasn't sure why he expected Craig to have as hard a time as he did answering the question but he certainly didn't want to let him off with a simple 'no' answer. "Well, who was it with?" Stan asked expectantly.

"Oh, are we going back to you asking twenty questions before I get to ask you one?" Craig replied when he swallowed his grape.

"Well, you made me tell you about Kenny," Stan added. Craig shook his head.

"No, you told me about Kenny on your own. All I asked was if you were a virgin. You could have just said yes but you decided to tell me about the your sexual escapades with Kenny, none of which counted as losing your virginity. I simply asked you to clarify one of your statements to which you told me yet another sexual act that does not count as losing your virginity," he corrected. Stan stared at Craig in disbelief for a moment. Craig was beginning to wonder if the boy across from him was about to snap when suddenly Stan smacked the side of his arm pretty hard.

"You asshole!" Stan laughed. "I can't believe you did that!" Craig gave him an unreadable look before regaining his composure.

"I guess I could just answer your second question and we'll call it even. How's that sound?" he offered.

"That sounds fair," Stan agreed. Craig nodded.

"When I was fifteen Wendy Testaburger was pissed off that she couldn't have you so she tracked me down and told me she wanted to have sex with me to get back at you. I have no idea why it had to be with me in order to get back at you but I thought she was pretty hot so I went along with it," he gave Stan a somewhat careful look because he wasn't sure if this was going to upset him or not. After all, Wendy Testaburger was Stan's ex girlfriend. The football player just laughed.

"That must've been the time she broke up with me for the thirtieth time because she needed her space but I surprised her by telling her that it would be the last time she would break up with me because I realized I was gay," Stan explained. Craig was a bit relieved that Stan wasn't mad at him for his past indiscretion because he actually really liked the younger teen and didn't want to ruin things between them. "So it was just that time with Wendy?" Stan asked in amazement.

"No, there was also Bebe, but I mean not many people can say they haven't slept with Bebe. There were a few other girls but I don't remember their names and there was another time with Tweek and once with Karen McCormick," Craig listed off.

"Holy shit, dude! Tweek and Karen McCormick? Karen as in Kenny's little sister? You have to explain this one," Stan exclaimed in shock.

"Well with Tweek it was one of those scenarios where there is just a bunch of sexual tension between two people until finally one day you decide to just fuck and get it over with," Craig sighed as if he were bored with the conversation although he always just seemed bored with everything. Stan nodded his head in understanding. "The thing with Karen basically went down like this: my little sister was planning on having Karen spend the night one night and everything was going according to plan until my parents got a call at midnight from my grandma saying she had fallen and hurt herself and needed to be taken to the hospital. My mom put me in charge of babysitting for the night while her and Thomas were out. So I did what anyone else would do in a situation like that and I got high as hell. I figured I should probably set up camp in the living room so I could be a halfway decent babysitter and at least be accessible to them if they needed anything so I spent the night enjoying a Red Racer marathon way more than I normally would because I was so stoned. It was getting to be around two in the morning and I hadn't heard anything from Ruby or Karen in a long time so I figured they had gone to sleep. It was around this time that I, being as high as I was, began to get pretty horny so I decided to whip it out and start jacking it. I guess I was in my own little world because I didn't hear anyone come up to the couch but I did hear a startled noise and that is when I realized Karen had caught me in the act. She just kept staring at my dick and one thing led to another and I ended up fucking her right there on the couch. If I hadn't of been so stoned I would not have fucked my little sister's friend but I was horny and she wasn't opposed to it so it happened."

"How old were you guys when this happened?" Stan asked the more important of the two questions he had about Craig's story.

"This happened like two months ago so obviously I'm seventeen now and she's about the same age as Ruby so she's fifteen," the taller teen answered.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting that to have been so recent but I guess that's better than thinking it happened when she was like twelve," Stan said honestly. Craig scoffed.

"I'm not a pedophile, dude," he replied slightly offended.

"Just making sure," Stan grinned. "I don't want to be introducing my boyfriend to people and have to add, 'By the way, I'd keep an eye on my children with this guy around if I were you'," he added then burst into a fit of laughter. Craig did his best to look pissed off but couldn't hide the small smile that flitted across his lips. He had to admit, Stan's scenario was kind of funny.

"Your boyfriend, huh?" Craig asked. Stan wiped a tear from the corner of his eye that had appeared during his fit of glee and looked a bit shy.

"Well you know, I do kind of like you and I would like to maybe go on some more dates with you," he responded slyly. Craig gave a genuine smile at this.

"I think I'd like to go on a few more dates with you too. You're okay in my book, Marsh," Craig admitted.

"You aren't so bad yourself, Tucker," Stan smiled. It wasn't until later that night when he was sitting on the edge of his bed in his pajama bottoms losing horribly at a video game to Kyle that Stan remembered the other question he had meant to ask Craig during their first date.

Why did Craig call his dad by his first name?

* * *

There was only a month of summer vacation left as Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny all lounged around in various locations in Cartman's basement one hot afternoon. "We could play World of Warcraft," Kyle lazily suggested running a hand through his thick damp curly hair. He had sprawled himself out as much as he could on the couch and kept pushing his hair off his sweaty forehead, his green ushanka locked away in his closet at home, long forgotten in the summer heat.

"Dude, I don't even want to think about that game after all the shit we had to go through with it before," Stan groaned as he fanned his chest with his white t-shirt, exposing his toned stomach. He had chosen to lie on his back on the concrete floor, staring up at the wooden boards that made up the ceiling.

"I'm telling you we should have a water gun fight," Kenny's suggestion was clearly spoken from the other side of the room. He was hanging upside down on a recliner with his bare arms crossed over his white wife beater and his long legs draped over the back of the chair where one's back and head would normally rest. The orange color of his long pants sharply stood out in contrast to the dull beige color of the chair.

"There's no way in hell I'm running around outside in this hot ass weather," Cartman argued from the computer chair he was sitting on backwards. He had the back of the chair flipped out to provide a flat surface for resting his chubby arms. "If you want to go run around outside so damn bad, I'll just call the cops and tell them about that bag of meth you always carry around with you," he threatened. Kenny tilted his head up a little bit in order to make eye contact with his portly friend and gave a huge upside down smile.

"Hey don't go shuttin' down a family business just because you're too afraid to lose a few pounds," the blonde laughed as he defended himself. All four teenagers had been more or less in the same position for the passed half hour trying to come up with something entertaining to do but the heat was making it impossible for them to all agree on something.

"I think we should each get our own kiddie pool and fill it up with ice water and just lay in it for the rest of the afternoon," Stan thought out loud. Kenny snorted in laughter.

"Dude, that's crazy," the blonde told his friend after having a good laugh. Stan shrugged.

"I wish we had popsicles. Like the kind that come in a plastic tube and are all liquid when you buy them and you have to freeze them yourself," Kyle said wistfully.

"Totally, man!" Kenny agreed. "You guys should go buy some." The three boys in the room that had their own cars and licenses all grumbled about not wanting to move or go through the trouble of going all the way to the store.

"Can your mom go to the store and pick some up for us?" Kyle asked Cartman hopefully. The brunette shook his head sadly.

"She's at work and won't be back until really late," he answered. "Ey, hippie! Get your boyfriend to bring us popsicles!" the chubby teen called over to Stan. The dark haired boy rolled his eyes and sat up off the floor.

"First off, Craig doesn't even have a car so he would not be able to just go buy popsicles and bring them here," Stan corrected. "Second, he's not even in town right now. He went with his family to visit some relatives that live like 5 hours away."

"So that's why we've been able to see you the past couple of days, because Craig has been out of town," Kyle concluded with a smile.

"Come on, I still hang out with you guys!" Stan defended.

"I'm just messing with you, dude. I know you still see us pretty regularly," Kyle amended.

"You've been dating Craig for a few months now," Kenny pointed out as he wriggled his way around in the recliner to sit in it the correct way. "You must be getting pretty serious about him, huh?" he waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

"Do we really have to talk about Stan's gay details?" Cartman complained. "He likes it up the butt, the end." A few glares were sent in the homophobic teen's direction but he was otherwise ignored.

"I do really like him," Stan admitted shyly. "I just feel like we mesh together really well, does that make sense? We can have some really great conversations and we enjoy each other's company," he explained to his friends.

"He's a huge asshole," Cartman interjected. "I don't see how you can stand hanging around him."

"He's not really an asshole like everyone thinks he is," Stan contradicted. "He just has a very different personality that not many people are used to. It's like he comes across one way but his meaning is the complete opposite," he tried to elaborate.

"He kind of does seem really rude to people," Kyle said quietly. Stan looked at his best friend for a moment.

"You just have to be around him more. Maybe if you've spent some more time with him you will start to see it," the raven-haired teen suggested.

"So how far have you guys gone in the bedroom?" Kenny butted in. Stan's face quickly turned a bright red and he gave his perverted friend a horrified look.

"Leave it to you, Kenny, to want to ask about someone's intimate details," Kyle sighed.

"Alright, you guys have fun. I'm going upstairs to watch some TV," Cartman suddenly excused himself, not wanting to hear about Stan's sex life.

"Have you guys done the dirty yet?" Kenny inquired eagerly.

"No!" Stan shouted embarrassed. "We've just made out. We haven't made any skin-to-skin contact or anything," he added a bit more softly.

"Well that's good. Just take it nice and slow, Stan. There's no need to rush into things," Kyle noted.

"Have you seen his junk yet?" Kenny continued to press.

"Oh my God, seriously Kenny?" Stan asked.

"Maybe I'm a little curious about what it looks like," the blonde shrugged nonchalantly. "I expect a full report when you do see it."

"Why do you want to know what my boyfriend's dick looks like so badly?" Stan was a little put off.

"Can't I just be curious?" Kenny asked innocently.

"You're being creepy is what you're being," Kyle stated candidly. The blonde boy just laughed.

"Maybe I just have my suspicions that he's hiding a monster in his pants and I just want to know if I'm right or not," he admitted. Stan pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Anyways, he's supposed to be coming home tonight. I'm glad too because I was really starting to miss him," Stan told his friends, hoping to navigate the conversation away from his boyfriend's genitalia.

"Aw, how cute," Kyle cooed in a slightly teasing manner. Stan pushed his shoulder and laughed. "Have you guys met each other's parents or anything yet?" the Jew asked.

"No," Stan shook his head. "We've never even been to each other's houses yet, actually. We always just meet up someplace. It's strange too because I've noticed that he hardly ever mentions his dad but whenever he does he calls him by his first name," he told them. Kenny and Kyle both gave him intrigued looks.

"Have you asked him about it?" Kenny wondered.

"I did once and he just kind of gave me a short answer, like it wasn't the whole story but that he didn't want to talk about it. He just said they don't get along," Stan explained.

"Huh, that is interesting," Kyle pondered as he pulled out his phone from his pocket. "I'd better get going. Dinner will be ready soon and you know how my mom gets if anyone is late for dinner. Do you want me to give you a ride home, Kenny?" he asked the perverted teen sitting next to him.

"Sure, why not? See you, Stan," he hugged his friend goodbye. Stan said goodbye to Kyle and Kenny and decided to head back home himself. The athletic teen got home just in time to eat dinner with his own family. Stan's grandfather had long since passed away so the household now only consisted of Shelly, Sharon, Randy, and Stan himself. Shelly had chosen to not attend college and worked at the same retail store in town that Sharon worked at. Randy was still working as a geologist at the natural forest and wildlife building on the outskirts of town. The entire family had been eating their meal in near silence for a while before Sharon decided to attempt conversation.

"How is work, Randy?" she asked pleasantly while cutting up the roast beef on her plate.

"Oh, it's, uh, fine. Everything is perfectly normal. No volcanoes or anything are going to be exploding any time soon," he reported, his blue eyes shifting around as he struggled to find something interesting to say about his job. He came up with nothing.

"Well that's good to hear," Sharon responded absent-mindedly. "How about you Stan? Did you have fun with your friends today?" The dark haired youth shifted the food around on his plate, not really having much of an appetite now that it had been brought to his attention how much he missed Craig since he hadn't seen him in a few days. He hadn't even been able to call or text him.

"Yeah it was okay," he sighed. "We were mostly bored but it was nice hanging out with them for awhile." Stan's phone suddenly alerted him that he had a text message and he dug it out of his pocket to check who it was from.

"Stanley, no phones at the dinner table," Sharon reminded her son gently.

"I know Mom, sorry," he apologized while checking the screen anyways only to find that the text had been sent by Craig. He felt a burst of excitement and eagerly opened the message to see what it said.

'I'll be getting home late tonight. Sorry you haven't heard from me. The service in this God forsaken town sucks. I've missed you. –Craig 3'

Stan had added a little heart next to Craig's name in his phone one day when he was feeling especially hopelessly romantic. He decided to keep it like that because it seemed fitting since Craig was his boyfriend after all, and his boyfriend's name needed special treatment in his phone. Before he could finish typing out a response his mother gave her second warning.

"Stan, what did I just say about having your phone at the table?" she gave Stan a very stern look.

"Sorry Mom, this is important. It's my boyfriend and he's been out of town for a few days so I haven't heard from him since he left," Stan justified as he finished typing his text and sent it off to Craig's phone.

_'I've missed you too! I've missed you sooo much! You have no idea how excited I am that you are coming home tonight. I can't wait to see you again. –Stan'_

"You didn't mention that you had a new boyfriend," Sharon said with interest. All eyes were suddenly on Stan waiting for him to answer.

"Well, I kind of did. Remember when summer vacation began and I told you I had a date?" he recounted. Sharon had a look of vague recollection on her face. "Well I'm still dating the same guy," he concluded.

"How come we've never seen this guy around the house or anything?" Randy spoke up. "He doesn't want to meet your family or something?" Stan let out a frustrated sound.

"This is why I didn't want to say anything to you guys. You always make such a huge deal out of everything," he whined. "We just didn't want to go through with the whole meeting the parents thing yet. I can guarantee you guys will be meeting him though. Probably sooner than I would like now that I've said something about it," Stan pouted slightly.

"Well excuse us for wanting to be involved in your life," Sharon stated. "I would like to meet the people that you date though, to make sure you aren't getting involved with some hoodlum." Stan gave his mother an incredulous look.

"Really, Mom? You think I would be attracted to someone like that?" he asked in disbelief.

"I don't know what you're attracted to because you never bring anyone home for us to meet!" Sharon complained.

"Good job, turd," Shelly finally spoke up, "you ruined dinner." Stan groaned loudly and excused himself from the dinner table and escaped up to his room. He really didn't want to have to introduce Craig to his ridiculous family but it was unavoidable if he was planning on being in a relationship with him for a long time. They had already been together for about two months but it seemed like longer. Stan could feel himself already falling hard for the taller raven-haired teen. He got himself ready for bed and fell asleep figuring Craig would be getting home too late for him to visit. He was hoping the next day would arrive quickly so that he would be able to finally see his boyfriend again.

* * *

At first Stan thought that the melody he was hearing was part of the dream he was having. It came to him fuzzy at first but as it persisted he opened his eyes to see that his phone was lit up and the melody was actually an incoming call. A cursory glance at his nightstand clock told him it was three thirty in the morning and he clumsily grabbed for his phone and managed to answer it before he missed the call.

"Hello?" he groggily asked.

"Heyy baby I miss you," came the slurred response from the other end of the line. Stan couldn't tell if he was still asleep or not and was struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Craig?" he asked uncertainly, his voice still heavy with sleep.

"Why don't you come over to see me? Why don't you come keep me company and see me?" Craig rambled into the phone.

"Have you been drinking? Are you drunk?" the younger of the two teens questioned, feeling a bit more awake. "It's like three thirty in the morning."

"Yeah I know," Craig admitted. "They are just terrible people. I just wish I could tell them all to go to hell!" he said loudly, still slurring his speech. "I only drank a little bit because I had to."

"I'm pretty sure you've had more than a little bit," Stan commented. "Who are terrible people?" he asked.

"All those assholes that think they're better than me just because they are purebreds," the noirette answered although it didn't make much sense to Stan at all.

"You know what, just don't do anything and I'll come to your house to help you out okay?" the athletic teen decided now that he was fully awake and very concerned about his boyfriend's well-being. "Where do you live?" Normally such a question would be easy to answer, but when the person who is giving the directions is extremely intoxicated it becomes much more difficult. After almost fifteen minutes of trying to get accurate directions from Craig on how to get to his house, Stan finally figured it out and was ready to head out the door.

"Don't go to the front door though 'cuz I'm not there," Craig warned the other teen.

"What do you mean you aren't there? Are you at your house or not?" Stan asked, trying to hide his frustration.

"Yeah but I don't live in the rest of the house. Park on the street passed the mailbox so that you aren't right in front of the house and then go around to the back yard. Knock on the back sliding glass doors," the inebriated boy instructed.

"Okay?" Stan had his doubts but figured that he would trust Craig on this one. It only took him a few minutes to drive to the house and when he arrived he went around to the back yard as instructed. He started to become frightened because he didn't want to be caught by Craig's parents wandering around the back yard. He noticed that the yard seemed to have a slope to it and at the bottom of the slant there was a patio half concealed by shrubbery, which had a sliding glass door leading to the inside of the house. Once he was standing at the glass doors he looked around at the patio furniture and saw that the table had an ashtray sitting on it with several cigarette butts inside. He figured Craig must really enjoy sitting on the patio to smoke. Looking back at the sliding glass door he took a deep breath and knocked quietly on the glass, hoping none of the other Tuckers in the house woke up because of the noise. The door began sliding open slowly at first and then a bit more quickly once Craig realized it was Stan waiting on the other side. The taller teen grabbed the football player by the wrist and yanked him inside before shutting the door behind him and locking it. It was incredibly dark inside and Stan's eyes were attempting to adjust themselves when Craig wrapped his arms around his body to embrace him.

"I'm so glad you're here," Craig whispered to Stan who could smell alcohol very strongly on the other's breath. It seemed like Craig had been ready for bed too because he was only wearing a pair of black sweatpants from what Stan could tell in the dark.

"So why are you drunk off your ass at four in the morning?" Stan whispered back worriedly. Craig looked distraught for a moment and Stan wasn't sure he was going to get an answer.

"I had to," Craig finally responded. "Those people are assholes and they made me feel like shit but now I don't really feel much of anything. I just feel… wiggly," he explained. Stan wasn't sure how to react to that.

"What?" was all he could ask. "You aren't making any sense. Why aren't you in your room in bed? Why are we downstairs? Won't we get caught by your parents?" Stan asked skeptically trying to glance around at his surroundings but it was just too dark to make much of anything out.

"This is my room," Craig stated. "It's the basement and there is no other way to get in here other than the way you came in. My mom doesn't visit very often anyways," his words were still slurring together. He took the shorter boy's hand and led him a few feet away and around some obstacles, obviously knowing the layout of the area very well. Stan heard a small squeak and then was gently pulled down onto what felt like a bed. Apparently Craig wasn't just drunkenly mistaking his surroundings, this area that they were in was actually his room. Everything else the older teen had been saying, however, still remained a mystery.

"Are you going to be okay?" Stan asked in concern. He had never heard Craig sound so upset before.

"If you had to listen to them for three days you would understand. You would think that after seventeen years they would just let it go but apparently they just don't give a shit," he whispered in despair. The smell of alcohol was strongly emanating from Craig as he continued to break down in a way that Stan had never seen before. He was suddenly reminded of their first date, when Craig had said something about admitting that he was actually a really fucked up person. Clearly, the taller dark-haired male had many things about himself that he had yet to share with Stan although it seemed like maybe tonight they were going to finally broach the subject. "It's like they don't see me as a person," Craig whispered in a dejected tone.

"Well you aren't with them anymore," Stan tried to comfort as he stroked his boyfriend's hand. He assumed Craig had been talking about the relatives he had been visiting. "I'm right here with you," he assured. "What did they say to you?" Stan hoped he would get some kind of answer that would reveal what it was about Craig that bothered him so much but instead Craig just stared at him drunkenly for a while.

"You're so beautiful," the inebriated teen whispered. Stan blushed and tried to look away from Craig's icy blue gaze but the older boy grabbed his face in between his hands and connected their foreheads. The shorter boy coughed a little at the overwhelming smell of alcohol surrounding him. "I'm so glad I have you. I don't know what I'd do without you. You're just so great," Craig rambled. He pressed his lips against Stan's and sloppily made out with him. Craig's mouth tasted like a shot of straight vodka but Stan allowed himself to be kissed to make his boyfriend feel better. The two teenage boys lowered themselves onto the bed and continued to kiss while lying down. Craig's hands made their way up Stan's shirt and he ran them over his smooth chest as Stan tangled his fingers in Craig's soft black hair. When the drunken teen began toying with Stan's nipples the jock hissed in pleasure and bucked his hips towards Craig's to rub their groins together. Craig moaned into Stan's mouth and trailed his wet kisses down the younger boy's neck and shoulders. Stan pushed his hips against Craig's again in an attempt to create friction against his hard cock. The taller of the two fumbled with Stan's shirt, trying to remove it and get it out of the way. Stan caught on to what Craig was doing and helped him pull the shirt over his head and toss it to the floor. Craig lifted himself up and put one arm on each side of Stan's shoulders so that the younger teen was pinned underneath him and began kissing him with more ferocity.

"You make me feel loved," Craig murmured after a few moments of plunging his tongue into Stan's mouth. Stan wrapped his arms around Craig's waist after Craig collapsed onto his chest.

"That's what I'm here for," Stan replied warmly and kissed the shoulder in front of him. He soon noticed that Craig's breathing seemed to have evened out and he wasn't moving anymore. Craig had finally passed out from all the alcohol in his system. Stan pushed Craig off of his chest and put them both under the covers. "Goodnight," the jock whispered as he curled up next to his boyfriend and closed his eyes to go to sleep. His questions would have to wait for some other time.

* * *

Craig sat on the floor watching the liquid wash over the ice cubes in his cup of rum and Coke as he swirled it around. "Come on you guys you have to at least help me pick a movie for us to watch. Damn it! Where did Tweek go?" Token asked irritably when he turned around from browsing his movie collection. Craig lifted his icy blue eyes to his friend and shrugged as he took a swig of his drink.

"I think he went to the bathroom," Clyde informed his flustered friend through a mouthful of sandwich. Token rolled his eyes and sat down on the floor near the TV.

"Seriously you guys, can't we ever just have a normal day of hanging out? I know my parents live on the other side of the mansion but that doesn't mean whenever you guys come over you can just partake in all the weird bad habits you have picked up," the affluent teen complained.

"What do you mean?" Clyde asked in a concerned tone after swallowing another mouthful of the foot long sub sandwich he was working on.

"Every time you guys come over Tweek goes off somewhere to snort coke, Craig drinks all night until he passes out, and you stuff your face the entire time. Am I the only normal person in our group?" Token explained exasperatedly. Clyde looked offended.

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with eating some snacks while hanging out with friends," he defended. "And Craig doesn't just get drunk at your house. He's, like, drunk half the time anyways no matter where he's at. You should probably stop drinking so much buddy, it's not good for you," he added in a worried manner while looking over at Craig. The dark haired teen shrugged and took another sip of the drink in his hand.

"Did you guys decide what we're going to do?" Tweek asked as soon as he returned to the room sniffling a bit. He went over to his spot on the floor and plopped down gracelessly.

"We are going to watch a movie but I'm waiting to hear some suggestions," Token explained to the blonde.

"Th- That sounds good but are you sure you don't want to go swimming or- nng!- go shoot some h- hoops?" Tweek stuttered with his usual twitchiness. Token sighed.

"No, not all of us have the same amount of energy as you right now. Maybe you can watch the movie while doing jumping jacks somewhere over there," the dark skinned teen suggested while motioning to a vague corner in the room. Tweek nodded vigorously in approval of this idea. "Alright, how about I just give you guys three options?" Token turned back around to his collection of DVDs and called out three titles for his friends to choose from. "It's either _Ninja Assassin_, _Warm Bodies_, or _Rise of the Guardians_. Pick one."

"Oh! Oh! _Rise of the Guardians_!" Clyde shouted while enthusiastically waving his arm around as if he were in a classroom and wanted to be called on. "_Warm Bodies_ is a good movie but the book was even better," he added as a side note.

"Alright, that's one vote," Token acknowledged. "How about you, Tweek?" he asked.

"Gah!" Tweek shouted, not expecting to be addressed. "Whatever you guys want is fine with me," he answered.

"Craig?" Token asked expectantly. Craig looked rather pensive as he stared into his cup with his brows slightly furrowed. "Craig?" Token repeated to get the other's attention.

"Stan is starting to ask questions," the blue eyed- boy responded quietly. "I knew I would have to tell him eventually but I just don't like bringing it up." He looked up from his drink at his friends as if expecting them to come up with the solution to his problem.

"It's not that big of a deal Craig. Jeez, you make it seem like you have this huge secret like you are actually Batman or something," Clyde said while taking another bite of his sandwich.

"It is a big deal you asshole! How would you feel if you were in my situation?" Craig spat angrily then downed the rest of his rum and Coke.

"I think what Clyde means is that you should just simply state the main issue and then go from there," Token replied carefully. "Just start by saying, 'Stan, I don't know who my real father is.' That's the main thing. Then you can just answer whatever questions he has because I'm sure he'll have a few."

"I still think it's weird that you and Stan Marsh are dating," Clyde piped up again. "Like, when do we ever talk to those guys?"

"Where is Stan? How come you aren't hanging out with him tonight?" Tweek asked while fidgeting with his shirt buttons.

"Football practice has started up again since school will be starting in a few weeks so he has to go to that on certain nights of the week," Craig answered. He was glad Stan was participating in something that he enjoyed doing but at the same time he felt a bit resentful towards it because it meant less time with his boyfriend before their senior year started.

"I can't wait to see what the first play will be for the school year!" Clyde exclaimed. He had turned out to be quite the drama geek and was always one of the lead roles in every school play.

"Do you really think that's the best way to go about it?" Craig asked Token, ignoring Clyde and going back to the subject of how to best discuss his personal issues with Stan. Token nodded.

"Sure, why not? It's direct and precise. Just rip the band aid off fast, okay?" the rich boy recommended. Craig looked somewhat placated for the moment so Token took one of the DVDs off the shelf. "Alright, _Rise of the Guardians_ it is."

* * *

"Will you really wear yours to school on Monday?" Stan pleaded with Craig as they sat on Craig's couch in his basement room with several plastic bags on the floor beside them.

"Yeah, I guess so," the dark haired teen responded in a defeated tone. "I doubt anyone is going to notice it though." Stan pulled one bag out of the pile and dug through it for what he was looking for. He extracted two bracelets made of black string and beads. Both bracelets had a silver charm dangling from them with a name engraved on it. Stan handed one to Craig and kept one for himself, clasping it around his left wrist.

"I don't care if anyone notices," Stan said excitedly. "We're wearing them for ourselves." He admired the bracelet on his wrist, which had the charm that was engraved with the name 'Craig'. Craig put the other bracelet on which had a charm attached to it that read 'Stan'. The older teen sighed. "What's wrong, Craig?" Stan asked worriedly.

"There's something I need to talk to you about," Craig stated, trying to remain emotionless but faltering. Stan continued to watch the other blue- eyed teen carefully, fearing what it was that needed to be discussed. "Since we've been together for a good while now and I really, really like you I need to go ahead and tell you about this." Craig had taken to staring at the bracelet on his wrist because he felt that he couldn't look Stan in the eye as he revealed himself to him. "The reason I get so upset and weird sometimes is because I don't know who my real father is." Craig took in a shaky breath as Stan continued staring at him in shock.

"Are you- are you serious?" Stan asked quietly. Craig nodded tersely, still averting his eyes. "I'm so sorry," the jock wasn't really sure what else to say. "So what about, um…" he trailed off not really sure how to phrase his question.

"Thomas Tucker?" Craig supplied bitterly. "He's supposed to be my dad in the sense that he's married to my mother and he's had the opportunity to raise me since I was born but he doesn't want anything to do with me." The tone in the noirette's voice had turned hateful and it was clear that he was having difficulty telling Stan about his home situation. Stan gently took Craig's hands in his and kissed his fingertips.

"You don't have to tell me this if you don't want to," he assured the trembling teen in front of him. Craig shook his head.

"I might as well just tell you the whole thing," he responded. "I guess my mom was having second thoughts about marrying my dad, or Thomas since he's not actually my dad, and their marriage was pretty rocky the whole first year. Apparently during that time she had a fling with some guy that she works for. She's a secretary at some office. I don't really know exactly what she does. By the time her and Thomas had worked out their issues she found out she was pregnant. It was already a pretty slim chance that Thomas could have possibly been the father because it was so soon after they resolved their issues but she could always hope. Then when I was born," Craig paused for a moment to collect himself. Stan tightened his grip on the other's hands to let him know he was still there for support. "When I was born they just knew. My mom has blonde hair and brown eyes and Thomas has red hair and brown eyes, but the nurse handed Thomas a baby with black hair and blue eyes. He was furious. My mom was horrified that her indiscretion was now so obvious. Apparently even the nurse was embarrassed for us. Thomas didn't want his last name going on my birth certificate. I'm not his son so he doesn't want me to have his last name. That's what they ended up going with because according to the law it's what my last name had to be."

"Did he ever warm up to you? Once he got used to having a kid around?" Stan asked although he was certain he knew the answer would not be as he hoped. Craig shook his head.

"Never. He never accepted me as his son. He made my mom raise me by herself. He refused to take any part in anything that had to do with me. I wasn't his responsibility he said. I don't even think he knows who my real father is because he would always tell my mom whenever she was especially overwhelmed, 'If you want help so damn bad why don't you go ask that boy's father to help you.' He would never say a name or anything," Craig explained to Stan.

"What a dick," Stan commented. He couldn't believe his boyfriend had endured so much growing up.

"Yeah, well why do you think I live in the basement of the house?" Craig questioned. "It's because once Ruby was born, with red hair and brown eyes just like Thomas, that's when he started to become a father. Not to me of course, but to Ruby. He hated it when my mom would try to take care of me or spend time with me because he would rather her devote her attention to the child that actually mattered, the one that both of them created. When I was thirteen, Thomas decided he was going to convert the basement into an apartment so that I could live down here and not be seen by the rest of the family. It would be as if I don't exist. That's why he put a little kitchen area and a bathroom down here and then closed off where there used to be a door at the top of those stairs over there that led into the kitchen. Now it's just a wall and the only way to come down here is to go all the way around to the back yard and use those sliding glass doors. My mom will come down here about once a week to take my laundry up to the house and wash it for me but other than that she doesn't really see me much because she's trying to raise Ruby. It's like I live on my own," Craig gestured around his living space. "I've got a little living room area here with the couch and TV, then there's the kitchen area with the mini fridge and tiny stove, the bathroom with a shower, and then there's the space for my bed to go back there in the corner."

"I can't believe you've had such a horrible childhood," Stan said in astonishment. "All because that asshole couldn't just raise you as his own son. Is this what you were talking about that one night you came back from visiting your relatives?"

"Oh yeah," Craig confirmed. "Everyone in my family knows about this whole thing. On that trip we happened to have been visiting my mom's side of the family. The only time I see Thomas's side of the family is when they come here for holidays sometimes and I'm allowed to join everyone in the main part of the house because my mom's family is there too. My grandmother on my mom's side is always saying things to her like, 'Well, we all make mistakes.' She says these things when I'm right there in the same room. She always gives me these sympathetic looks, too, like I'm one of those starving African kids. My cousins call me "The Bastard" and ask me annoying questions about what it feels like to not know where an entire side of my genetics comes from. I don't understand why they can't just drop it and move on. I get it, Thomas Tucker isn't my real dad, my mom had an affair with some guy she works with, and I don't know who my father is. How many times can that be brought up?" Craig was getting incredibly emotional by this point. He was frustrated and angry and confused all at the same time. Stan leaned in and gave him a long hug.

"You know what really bothers me the most?" Craig asked when he pulled out of Stan's comforting hug. Stan cocked an eyebrow at him. "My mom obviously knows who my father is but she refuses to tell me. And because this is such a small fucking town I feel like everyone knows except for me. It seems like everyone in this town knows the gossip, 'Oh, do you remember when Christine Tucker cheated on her husband with so-and-so? Well that's their son right there, Christine Tucker and so- and- so's kid.'"

"I know what you mean. It does seem like everyone in town always knows everything about everybody," Stan agreed. "I've never heard of this before though so maybe they aren't talking about it as much as you think," he reassured.

"It sure does seem like they are," Craig stated darkly, gazing out the sliding glass doors at the clear night sky as if the stars could communicate to him the one thing he wanted to know most of all: Who was his real father?

* * *

"Are you ready for our first day as seniors?" Stan asked excitedly while he waited for Craig to toss his backpack into the back seat of his pick up truck and get settled into the passenger seat. Craig slammed the door closed and buckled himself in as he let out a groggy groan in response. Stan laughed and began driving towards the high school.

"It's too fucking early," Craig complained and tiredly rubbed his hands against his face in an attempt to wake himself up.

"Aw, you're wearing your bracelet," Stan noticed when he glanced over in his boyfriend's direction. "I've got mine on too," he took his left hand off the steering wheel and twisted his wrist around to display the beaded bracelet he had on.

"Well, you told me you were planning on us wearing them to school so I put it on," Craig stated grumpily. Stan nodded.

"Yep, because if anyone looks at it they will see that you are mine," the jock said in a jokingly overly possessive manner and briefly looked over at the charm on the bracelet that had Craig's name on it. The taller teen looked down at his own accessory that had a charm with Stan's name on it and understood what the other teen meant. Stan was his and he didn't mind displaying it on his wrist.

"So you and your friends don't carpool or anything? I'm surprised you don't have to pick one of them up too," Craig asked.

"The only one that doesn't drive is Kenny and Kyle lives closer to him than me or Cartman so he usually picks him up in the mornings," Stan shrugged. "Besides, this way I get to spend a little bit of time with you before school starts." Craig closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the seat.

"Are you coming over after school?" the dark haired boy asked as he rested his eyes for a moment. Stan made the turn into the parking lot of the school and began searching for a decent parking space.

"I've got football practice right after school. Want me to come over when I get finished?" the younger teen asked. He finally chose a parking space and pulled into it smoothly then shut the truck off.

"If you want," Craig said with a bit of a scowl on his face. Stan turned in his seat to face the other teen and noticed he seemed irritated.

"Of course I'll want to. I want to spend time with you," the dark blue- eyed boy said gently. "What's wrong?"

"I'll just be glad when football season is over so that I can actually see you more," Craig retorted, opening his icy blue eyes and looking directly at Stan. The athlete sighed.

"I'm sorry my schedule hasn't been very flexible lately. It's just for a few months and then you can have me all to yourself again," he appeased. He leaned over in his seat so that his face was closer to the irritated teen's face. "Will you come to our first game to see me play?" he asked innocently while attempting puppy dog eyes.

"Maybe," Craig replied, still playing off being grumpy.

"Are you going to cheer me on from the stands?" Stan smiled. "Whenever I score are you going to tell everyone that that's your super hot boyfriend out there on the field?" Craig scoffed and raised his middle finger to Stan's face as he rolled his eyes. Stan laughed at his boyfriend's typical response and pecked him on the lips. "We'd better get going or we're going to be late for class." The two exited the truck and entered the school building where they found their schedules posted on a wall in the cafeteria. They discovered that they had math class together again as well as history but that was it.

At lunchtime Stan was elated to see Kenny, Kyle, and Cartman all sitting at one table and quickly went over to join them. "This is so awesome! We all have the same lunch again!" Stan exclaimed as he sat his tray down next to Cartman. Kyle and Kenny both smiled in agreement in their seats across from him.

"What's with that gay ass looking bracelet?" Cartman asked with a mouth full of pizza. Stan gave him an annoyed look.

"It's not a 'gay ass bracelet'," Stan corrected. "I got me and Craig matching bracelets that have our names on them. Mine says Craig and his says Stan," he explained.

"So it's exactly what I said: a gay ass bracelet," Cartman repeated. Stan made a noise of frustration.

"I think that's a really sweet idea," Kyle interrupted before an argument could break out. Stan gave him a relieved look.

"Thank you," he accepted graciously. The friends spent their lunch period comparing schedules and giving their opinions on how the first day of senior year was going. Once the bell rang signaling the end of lunch, the four teenagers wished each other luck with the rest of the day and went in different directions to their separate classes. Stan ended up in the gymnasium for his mid-day P.E. class and sat on the bleachers waiting for the final bell to ring and the coach to show up to explain what the activity for the day would be. The dark haired teen was so lost in his thoughts of what he would possibly be doing in class for the next hour that he didn't notice anyone come over to him and was startled when he felt someone sit so closely to him that their knees were touching. Stan jumped at the contact and turned to see who was invading his personal space.

"Sorry, but could you not sit so close to me," Stan said as politely as he could but froze momentarily when his eyes met a pair of icy blue ones. "Craig! What are you doing in here?" he asked excitedly and wrapped his arms around the noirette in a quick hug.

"My schedule got changed around. I guess they finally realized that I failed P.E. when I was a freshman and now they're making me take it to graduate," Craig shrugged.

"How do you fail P.E.?" Stan asked appalled.

"I never dressed out and I didn't do shit," the taller boy told him. " I fuckin' hate P.E. Why do I have to run around and get all sweaty and out of breath just to graduate high school?" he complained.

"Whatever, dude, P.E. is fun. I'm taking it as an elective. I do hate that I have it in the middle of the day though. It's better when it's the last class because even if you get really sweaty and worn out you get to go home right after it. I'm going to have to sit through three more classes after this," Stan wrinkled his nose in disapproval.

"I hope you are planning on taking a shower before you come over to my house later. I don't want you visiting after having P.E. and football practice in the same day and then not showering," Craig informed him. Stan laughed.

"What? You mean you don't like me smelling all manly after a hard work out?" the younger teen teased. Craig lightly punched him in the arm as the bell finally rang signaling the beginning of class. The coach came out of his office to address the class.

"Hey Marsh, you're in this class?" the coach asked when he saw the dark blue eyed boy sitting on the first row of bleachers.

"Yeah I had an available class so I figured it would be fun to take P.E. again," the youth explained.

"Good deal! It'll be great to have an actual athlete in here with all these freshman," the coach admitted then noticed Craig's presence. "You look too old to be a freshman. What are you doing here?" he asked the dark haired teen.

"I failed P.E. when I was a freshman and apparently it's mandatory to pass this stupid class so they put me back in it," Craig answered bluntly. The coach narrowed his eyes at Craig and gave him a warning look.

"Are you going to be a trouble maker? I don't appreciate trouble makers in my gym," the older man threatened. Stan didn't want Craig to get into any kind of altercation on the first day of school so he quickly intervened. He knew his coach was the kind of man that favored the super athletic kids in the school and didn't really have much patience for the kids that disliked physical activity.

"Coach Williams, this is my boyfriend Craig," Stan introduced the taller teen in hopes that the coach would go easy on him if he knew the potential "trouble maker" was dating one of the star football players. The older man raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Your boyfriend, huh. I didn't know you were that way, Marsh," Coach Williams said uneasily. Stan nodded in confirmation.

"Yes, sir. I will make sure he passes this class okay?" Stan offered. The coach gave the couple a wary look before nodding at Stan.

"Just keep doing what you do out on the field, Marsh," Coach Williams advised before moving on to discuss what was expected of the class for the semester. Stan looked over at Craig expectantly.

"You're lucky Coach Williams knows me so well or you would probably have had detention for a week," Stan whispered.

"I don't give a shit," Craig replied without bothering to whisper.

"Shh! Don't let him hear you!" Stan whispered in alarm. Craig rolled his eyes.

"I told you I think this class is a joke and I'd rather not be here," the older teen said in a hushed tone.

"Well I'm going to make sure you pass this class," the told him determinedly.

"Does that mean I get private physical activity lessons with you?" Craig smirked slightly. Stan blushed and turned his attention back towards Coach Williams, intent on ignoring his snarky boyfriend.

* * *

"Today was exhausting," Stan groaned and collapsed onto Craig's bed.

"You did bathe before coming here right? I don't want you getting my sheets all sweaty," Craig asked from the patio. The black haired boy was standing outside to smoke while Stan rested his weary body.

"Yes I bathed!" the blue eyed teen called back slightly offended. "Didn't you notice my hair is still wet?" Craig shrugged even though Stan couldn't see it.

"It could have been wet with sweat. I was just making sure," he clarified. He finished smoking and went back inside his basement apartment, switching on one of his jazz CDs before lying down next to Stan on the bed. "Are you still alive?" he asked impassively.

"Yeah," Stan mumbled into the pillow his head was on. He turned to face the other male laying next to him. "You're going to have to meet my parents soon," he said grimly. "My mom especially is driving me up the wall about it lately."

"Then I guess I'll be meeting your parents," Craig said nonchalantly.

"Wanna just do it this Saturday and get it over with?" Stan sighed

"It's up to you."

"I don't see how you can be so calm about it," Stan eyed him suspiciously. Craig smiled mischievously at him.

"I might not have been smoking a cigarette out there a minute ago," the dark haired boy confessed. Stan rolled his eyes.

"My dad smokes that stuff too. Maybe you guys will have something to talk about," the football player said a bit irritably. Craig just laughed and watched his boyfriend doze on the bed for a little while before deciding to find something else to occupy himself with.

* * *

"Are you going to be one of those people that has to give me an entire list of what I can and can't say in front of your family or do you trust me?" Craig asked in a bored tone while watching the houses go by from the passenger window of Stan's truck. Stan was picking Craig up to bring him to his house for dinner with his family.

"No actually you can pretty much say whatever around my family," the athletic teen replied. "I mean they're pretty cool about stuff like that I guess. I already told you my dad smokes pot sometimes and my mom is okay with me swearing around her and stuff. I don't really care about what my sister thinks 'cause she's a bitch to me half the time anyways."

"I totally forgot you had a sister," Craig commented in amusement.

"Psh, I could do without her that's for sure," Stan agreed.

"I'm just glad to be getting out of the house tonight," Craig sighed. Stan glanced over in his boyfriend's direction for a moment to see him staring out the window with a troubled look in his light blue eyes.

"What happened?" Stan asked cautiously. Craig remained silent for a moment before bringing himself to answer.

"Even though I'm under the house I can still hear people talking if they are right above me in the kitchen," Craig explained. "Actually, it's more like I can hear them yelling." He was silent again as he collected his thoughts. "Apparently my mom has been working late the past few nights so Thomas is accusing her of cheating on him again." Stan had no idea how to respond so he said nothing. "I'm really not sure if she is or not to be honest," Craig continued arbitrarily. "For all I know she still works with my biological father so maybe they are having another fling. Who knows? I mean, I got here some way right?"

"Craig," Stan began softly.

"I don't give a shit," Craig concluded bitterly, apparently closing the topic. A moment later Stan pulled into the driveway in front of his house.

"Are you going to be okay?" Stan asked the older teen as he shut his truck off and they just sat in the driveway for a moment.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Craig answered almost robotically as if he were used to auto-answering that question all the time.

"Well let's do this," Stan sighed and the two made the short walk from the truck up the front steps to the door to the Marsh household. The raven haired teen braced himself and pushed the door open, leading the way inside. He was a bit surprised to be greeted with the sight of an empty living room. He had half expected everyone to have been sitting there pretending to be doing something to occupy themselves with so that the moment he got home with Craig they could launch into their questions and comments. The jock looked back at Craig to express his surprise before venturing through the living room to the kitchen where the sounds of his mother cooking could be heard. "Mom?" he asked timidly.

"Oh good you're back, Stanley," Sharon said in satisfaction. "Dinner is just about finished. Your father is upstairs in his office working on some assignment for work and your sister is in her room. Why don't you set the table while I let them know to come down to eat," she instructed pleasantly. After she shut the stove off she turned around to face her son and noticed the other young man standing behind him. "You must be Stanley's boyfriend! I'm his mother, Sharon," the middle aged woman held her hand out towards the taller teen.

"I'm Craig," he told her as he shook her hand firmly. Sharon appeared pleased.

"I'll just be a minute and then I'll be right back," she told the boys before heading off to round up the rest of the household to come to the dining room. Stan began setting the table and as soon as he placed the last fork his sister came storming into the room.

"I can't believe I'm missing my show just because of my faggy little brother," Shelley grumbled as she angrily took a seat in the chair closest to her. "You're going to pay for this you turd!"

"You can't do anything to me anymore Shelly!" Stan taunted back. "You know why? Because I'm bigger than you now so you can't push me around like you used to," he said triumphantly. Shelly continued glaring at her little brother for a moment.

"That's what you think," she replied deviously. Stan was honestly a bit frightened by her words but he didn't want to show it in front of Craig so he played it off like he didn't care and took a seat in a chair on the opposite side of the table from her pulling Craig down next to him. Sharon busily set the dishes of food out on the table in various places as they waited for Randy to come join them. When all the food had been set out but Randy still hadn't made an appearance Sharon went back over to the stairs to shout up at him.

"Randy! Get your ass down here now! Dinner is ready and we have company over!" she yelled angrily. The head of the Marsh household finally began descending the steps with a look of frustration written across his face.

"I was coming! God!" he exclaimed irritably. Sharon sighed at her husband's behavior and followed him into the dining room. Stan's parents took their seats at the table and everyone began passing the food around.

"What are you doing up there anyways, Randy?" Sharon asked her husband with a hint of curiosity in her voice. The man was in the middle of spooning mashed potatoes onto his plate and tried to think of a simple way to state what his work pertained to.

"Basically, it's looking like there is going to be an earthquake in Greeley so we are all trying to figure out when it will hit and how big it's going to be before it's too late," the dark haired man explained to his wife.

"Oh my! That sounds like a big deal," Sharon said in astonishment.

"Yep, the entire office has been pretty hectic lately," Randy nodded. "Everybody's been working late so that we can try to figure it out fast enough." The table ate in silence for a few moments before a new topic was introduced.

"Stan, how is football practice going?" Sharon asked her son while cutting up the food on her plate. Stan was startled when he heard his mother say his name but was relieved that they weren't discussing his new boyfriend yet.

"It's going pretty good. Coach is pretty excited about the season this year," he informed her.

"That's really great, sweetie," his mother replied with a warm smile.

"Yeah Stan," Randy spoke up, "make sure you get that football scholarship because your mom and I are too poor to pay for all of your college stuff. Luckily Shelly decided not to go so at least we aren't completely broke yet."

"Dad!" Shelly yelled angrily.

"Randy!" Sharon admonished her husband. Stan just laughed at his father's harsh but true words.

"Don't worry Dad," Stan said after taking a sip of his drink, "I should be getting that scholarship by the end of the year." He turned to give Craig a smile just to let him know that everything was alright before returning his attention to his plate of food.

"So Craig how did you meet Stan?" Sharon suddenly asked, fixing her gaze on the silent teenager sitting diagonally from her. Craig's piercing eyes turned away from Stan and redirected towards Mrs. Marsh.

"School," he replied in his slightly monotonous voice.

"Are you two in the same grade?" Sharon asked.

"Yes," Craig responded with one word again. Sharon wasn't too sure what to think of the stoic teen sitting at her dinner table.

"Craig is very direct when answering questions," Stan piped in to try to alleviate the situation. "He doesn't really beat around the bush," he explained, giving his boyfriend a desperate look. Craig took the hint and rolled his eyes at the other boy, which Stan took to mean a begrudging agreement to use longer sentences when speaking to his parents.

"Alright then," Sharon said in trepidation. "Are you planning on going to college, Craig?" she asked sweetly. Craig paused for a moment. He had thought of it off and on passively but had never really done any research into specific colleges or filled out any applications. His grades in high school so far had been pretty good but he knew for certain his parents didn't have any sort of college fund saved up for him, especially since he was a mistake in the first place.

"I'm not really sure yet," he answered honestly. "I'm going to have to do a bit more research on it." Sharon nodded her head in understanding. College was a huge commitment; it was best to be sure about the decision before following through with it.

"It's not like it's the end of the world if you don't end up going," Shelly added after swallowing her bite of food. She sent a scowl in the general direction of her father.

"What kind of work do your parents do?" Randy asked, ignoring his daughter's angry looks. Craig stiffened at the mention of his parents. He never liked for people to know the horrible truth about his family so he always had to pretend like everything was picture perfect when he told people about them. It made his stomach churn every time he had to make believe that everything was okay just for the sake of hiding the truth. Stan grabbed his hand under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze to offer some form of support.

"My mother is a secretary," he stated in his normal tone. "My father is a car salesman," he added hoping that it didn't sound too forced. Stan could easily tell that his voice sounded hollow when he had said it.

"Do you have any siblings?" Sharon asked not noticing how tense Craig had become.

"I have a little sister. She's fourteen or fifteen," he answered. He could never remember his sister's exact age because he didn't really know her that well. He hardly ever saw her since she lived in the main house with his parents. The only time he really hung out with her was whenever his mother asked him to babysit. Sharon nodded in acceptance of his answer and resumed the task of eating her food.

"What kinds of activities do you like to do?" Randy asked. Craig had to think about what kinds of things he did in an average week. He doubted smoking weed would be an appropriate answer so he had to figure out what else he did in his spare time.

"I hang around my friends a lot," he finally decided on saying.

"Oh are you real close to your friends too? Sometimes it feels like Stanley's friends live here too, they're over here so often," Sharon smiled.

"Yeah," Craig nodded. "I grew up with these guys. We're real close," he said almost warmly. His friends were his bros, if anyone tried to mess with any of them Craig would take them down in an instant. Of course, he felt that way about Stan too, but on a different level. The interrogation died down and the atmosphere became that of a normal family dinner. As the table was being cleared and Shelly had returned to her lair and Randy had gone back upstairs to his office Stan pulled Craig aside.

"Do you want to sleep over?" the shorter teen asked almost shyly. Craig looked down at his football player boyfriend for a moment and only had to think for a brief moment about his answer.

"Sure," he smirked and softly kissed Stan's forehead. Stan smiled warmly and wrapped his arms around Craig's waist, closing the distance between their bodies. Craig leaned down again and placed a kiss on Stan's neck that was exposed to him in the way he rested his head on Craig's shoulder.

"Let me just run it by my mom real quick," the jock mumbled into Craig's shirt and reluctantly pulled himself out of the embrace. "Wait right here," he instructed and he headed off into the kitchen where his mother was cleaning up.

Craig stood in the Marsh living room looking around at the trinkets and pictures that decorated his surroundings. He never had to run anything by his mom before doing it he just did it. He had been able to get away with doing so many things in his life because he didn't have a dad and his mom was so caught up in raising her other child and running a household that she never had time to parent Craig. He hadn't spent time with his mother since he was thirteen. The most interaction he had with her was when she came to get his laundry and drop it off and when she gave him his monthly food money, and sometimes he wasn't even home for that. Sometimes he would come home from school and find an envelope taped to the glass door that had his money in it and a note attached saying "Sorry I missed you". It was like she was just the FedEx person that had just happened to miss a customer being at home. The woman that had given birth to Craig had nearly become a stranger to him and he had to try to deal with that in some way. The more he looked around at all the pictures on the walls of family portraits and school photos of both Shelly and Stan the more frustrated he began to feel. He knew there weren't any photos of him hanging in the living room of the Tucker house. His mother hadn't bought copies of his school pictures since his was in elementary school. He knew his mother had tried to raise him on her own and she used to shower him with affection when he was very young and he always felt loved around her, but now he wondered if she had changed her mind and only viewed him as a mistake just like the rest of the family did. Maybe now that he was older he more closely resembled his biological father and it scared her away. Craig tore his eyes away from the mantle full of family pictures and glared at the carpet. His mind had become a whirlwind of emotions and he felt confused and angry. He never liked feeling this way, whenever he got like this he always tried to find a way to make it stop. There was one thing that he knew made his mind quiet down and numbed his raging emotions. Stan came back into the living room with a big smile plastered on his face.

"She said yes!" he announced excitedly. Immediately he noticed the dark look in Craig's eyes and how tense he was standing and his smile faltered. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

"Do you have anything to drink?" Craig asked vacantly.

"We've got some orange juice and soda. Of course there's always water," Stan offered, hoping that the beverages he mentioned were the kind that Craig had in mind although he knew they weren't. Craig shook his head.

"Vodka? Rum? Tequila?" the melancholy teen clarified. Stan gently took his hand.

"Oh Hun," Stan rubbed Craig's hand soothingly. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Do you have anything to drink?" Craig asked again, his ice blue eyes making direct contact with Stan's ocean blue ones. Stan sighed and shook his head.

"My dad doesn't keep any hard stuff in the house. He has a few beers but he would definitely know if one or two went missing and then I would get my ass handed to me on a platter," he explained. "Let's just go up to my room okay?" Craig nodded and Stan led the way upstairs to his bedroom, shutting the door behind them. Stan sat on the edge of his bed and patted the spot next to him for Craig to come join him. "What happened? Was it my parent's questions that got to you?"

Craig sat beside Stan on the bed and kept his eyes trained on the floor. He didn't want to admit that he was jealous that his boyfriend came from a loving family with a father and a mother that cared so much about him so he just nodded his head in response to the question he had been asked. Stan turned towards him and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, holding him tightly. "Don't let it get to you," he whispered. Craig looked Stan in the eyes again.

"You make me feel… so wanted," he whispered back in wonder. Stan withdrew himself from hugging the raven haired teen next to him and took one of his hands in his own.

"You are wanted, Craig," Stan told him in a hushed tone. "I want you. I need you in my life. I-," he smiled nervously and averted his eyes to their joined hands momentarily before returned his gaze to meet Craig's. "I love you," he admitted softly. Craig decided that in that moment, as Stan spoke those three simple words to him, the other teen looked the most beautiful he had ever seen him. He was vulnerable; his raw emotion was showing. He trembled slightly out of nervousness, his eyes were uncertain, his skin glowed with happiness and he was truly breathtaking. He seemed to hold his breath in anticipation although he really didn't need to because as Craig's eyes took in the entire sight in front of him he felt a lightning strike through his tornado of emotions and it was as if time stood still. Nothing else mattered at the moment except the exposed boy in front of him and his steadily returning heart beat. It only took a matter of seconds for time to burst back to life and Craig's lips were moving.

"I love you too." He brought his lips to Stan's and kissed him with intensity. Stan returned the kiss with fervor as if he was trying to let his love for the other boy flow out of his lips and become a tangible thing. It almost seemed to be working too. As Craig let his tongue enter Stan's mouth he thought he could taste Stan's passion. When Stan ran his hands up Craig's shirt and brushed his fingertips across his skin Craig could sense the desire that Stan felt. As Craig moaned into Stan's hot mouth he could feel his love being reciprocated by the other teen. Stan removed his hands from Craig's chest and broke their kiss momentarily to lift the other boy's shirt over his head and remove his own as well. Their lips reconnected in another searing kiss once their shirts had been removed and their tongues once again slipped into each other's mouths. Craig's hands explored every inch of Stan's exposed skin and lightly traced over the other boy's nipples as the two separated their mouths slightly and Stan licked Craig's tongue and lips.

The two broke contact once again to kick their shoes off and Stan watched Craig lustily while the taller teen went ahead and removed his jeans. The jock bit his lip as the pants fell to the floor in a heap and he decided to take advantage of the brief intermission and rose from the bed to go dig through a chest of drawers in his closet. Craig had returned to his position on the bed and was hungrily watching Stan go through the drawer. Just when he was about to question what his boyfriend was up to the shorter boy snapped the drawer shut and quickly returned to the side of the bed with a bottle of lubricant in his hand.

"I thought you were a virgin," Craig commented while gesturing his head towards the bottle.

"Kenny gave it to me. You know how he is," Stan explained while tossing the lubricant onto the bed and dropping his own pants to the floor.

"Not really, but right now I don't really give a shit," Craig stated and pulled Stan closer to him once he had gotten rid of his pants. The tent in Stan's boxers was level with Craig's face once he had pulled Stan close enough to him and the light blue eyed boy reached up and extracted the hard cock from within the article of clothing. Stan groaned and threaded his fingers through Craig's jet black hair at the sensation of being touched. Craig stroked the soft shaft of his boyfriend's cock slowly, enjoying the feel of his bare skin and the sounds of pleasure that Stan was emitting above him. He leaned forward and took the leaking manhood into his mouth which caused Stan to moan slightly louder. Craig bobbed his head around the organ a few times, coating it in his saliva before pulling it out of his mouth entirely.

"Fuck, Craig," Stan moaned and rubbed his fingers over Craig's scalp. Craig dragged his tongue under the entire length of Stan's cock and used one of his hands to toy with the teen's ball sack. "Uggnn," Stan moaned again and bucked his hips forward slightly. Craig's own erection was poking through the slit in his boxers and he returned to sucking Stan's cock and began pumping his own with his left hand. "Craig," Stan gasped. "I want you," he begged in a husky voice. "I want you inside me, please."

"Oh God," Craig moaned, finding the desperation in Stan's voice incredibly sexy. Stan stepped back a few steps and removed his boxers, leaving himself completely naked except for the socks on his feet. Craig pulled his own boxers down and left them discarded on the floor. He couldn't help but stare at the sight in front of him. "You're so beautiful," Craig whispered. Stan stood before him wearing nothing but socks and a slight flush to his cheeks. Years of sports had sculpted his muscles and left him with lightly tanned skin. It was as if he had no imperfections and Craig was awestruck that such a stunning human being felt love for him and was his. In just a few short moments Craig was going to exert his claim over him and make him utterly and completely his. Stan approached Craig slowly and sat back down on the bed next to him. The shorter boy caressed Craig's face with his hand and his eyes swam with the greatness of his affection.

"So are you," Stan smiled and kissed the other boy's lips gently. The two let themselves lie back on the bed as their lips moved together slowly and their naked bodies tangled together. Craig had never before experienced anything like this. All the other times he had slept with someone it had never meant as much to him as this moment with Stan. A lot of times he was drunk when he had sex and didn't remember much about it afterward, but other times he was simply looking for a quick fuck. Never before had he taken so much care in his actions towards the person he was with and never had he felt so much passion during the act. As for Stan, he was so nervous he felt like he could feel his heartbeat in his throat. He had never given himself to anyone before and even though he knew without a doubt that he wanted Craig to be the one he gave himself to he was still scared about the act itself. He had no idea what to expect or even if he was going to be good at it. The only thing he was certain of in that moment was that he wanted to give everything to Craig, to make him feel how much he loved him. He was so caught up in kissing the other boy he didn't expect Craig's whispered words against his lips.

"Stay relaxed for me." Before Stan had time to react, one of Craig's slicked up fingers had entered him. The younger teen yelped at the unexpected feeling and tried his best to remain relaxed as the finger gently moved inside him. It felt a bit uncomfortable and he couldn't help but tense up out of nervousness. Even though he had done this with Kenny before it felt entirely different now that he knew this time it would lead to going all the way with someone he cared deeply for. "You've got to relax, baby," Craig soothed and began placing kisses along Stan's neck in order to distract him with a pleasurable feeling. He sucked gently at the nape of the raven haired teen's neck and as he heard his boyfriend's sharp intake of breath he felt the muscles around his finger relax a bit. He slowly inserted another finger into the other teen and he moved his kisses back up to Stan's mouth. He licked slowly along his bottom lip in an attempt at getting the jock riled up to the point of forgetting about the temporary discomfort. Stan slid his tongue back into Craig's mouth and Craig began scissoring his two fingers inside the other boy in order to stretch him out as much as he could. Stan whimpered into his mouth and he introduced the third and final finger inside of Stan. After a little bit of movement it seemed like Stan had completely relaxed and was beginning to enjoy the feeling of Craig's fingers sliding in and out of him. Craig watched the way Stan was reacting to being fingered and couldn't wait to actually be inside him. The way Stan was letting out those breathy moans was driving Craig crazy and his dick twitched in anticipation.

Stan made a disappointed noise when Craig removed his fingers. The dark blue eyed boy gave Craig a lust- filled pleading look as the older teen spread lube over his erection. "Don't worry," Craig told him as he leaned over him and lined himself up with Stan's entrance. "I've got something better than just three fingers for you."

"Please, Craig. Please, I want you inside me," Stan begged breathlessly. "I want to be yours."

"Fuck Stan," Craig moaned and pushed the head of his leaking cock gently against Stan's waiting entrance. "You're so fucking sexy." He leaned down to kiss the willing form beneath him and pushed against him with enough force for the head of his cock to penetrate his hole. Stan hissed in pleasure and wrapped his legs around Craig's waist, locking him in place. The slow pace was agonizing to Craig but he wanted to make sure Stan was comfortable since it was his first time. Little by little Craig pushed more of his shaft inside the tight virgin beneath him, fighting the urge to just fuck him into the mattress. Stan continued to let out small cries of pain and pleasure until finally Craig was completely buried inside him. The taller teen kept his movements small and slow at first until Stan finally seemed adjusted enough that he could handle rougher movements.

A few moments later found Craig pounding into a sweat drenched Stan who was calling out every few seconds and vigorously pumping his own cock that was painfully hard and dripping pre-come. Hearing the noises that were coming out of his boyfriend was bringing Craig closer to coming every second. Stan could sense that Craig was approaching his limit and he grabbed his sweat drenched face and pulled it towards his own so that he could kiss his lips. Craig didn't even need to thrust anymore and pushed his cock as deep inside Stan as he could, his head just brushing against Stan's prostate and continued to rock his hips in that one spot. The feeling of Craig so deep inside him was overwhelming enough for Stan but every time the other boy rocked against him he hit against his prostate just right causing him to cry out into their kisses. Their bodies were so close together that as Craig's hips rocked his lower stomach rubbed against Stan's neglected erection. Eventually, the sensation of the friction on his dick and Craig's cock hitting his prostate at the same time pushed him over the edge and he moaned loudly into Craig's mouth and semen spurted forth from his erection coating both of their stomachs. Once Craig heard Stan's orgasmic moan and felt the hot liquid on his stomach he could no longer hold it in and Stan felt Craig's hot release coat the deepest part of his insides as Craig rocked shakily against his prostate one last time. The two lay against each other panting into each other's mouths for a few moments before sharing a lazy kiss.

"I love you Craig Tucker," Stan whispered breathlessly, relishing in the afterglow of their sex. Craig kissed Stan's sweaty forehead.

"I love you too, Stan Marsh," he responded, enjoying the way it felt to say he loved someone and truly feel it deep in his heart. "That's the first time I've ever made love to someone," he admitted. Stan smiled brightly and kissed the tip of Craig's nose.

"We should get cleaned up," Stan suggested while looking at the sticky mess of semen that was all over both their stomachs. He could feel the ejaculate leaking out of himself as well. The two wiped themselves off with Stan's shirt that had been forgotten on the floor and went to go take a nice hot shower before heading to bed for the night.

* * *

Craig couldn't seem to fall back asleep and glanced at the clock next to Stan's bed to see what time it was. He discovered that it was nearly two in the morning and sighed, turning to look at Stan's sleeping form next to him. As quietly as possible, Craig got out of bed and searched the floor for his discarded pants from earlier. After groping around in the dark for a few minutes he found them stepped into them pulling them over his boxers not bothering with a shirt. He headed downstairs and let himself out the back door and pulled a hidden joint out of the box of cigarettes he had in his back pocket. He leaned his back against the side of the house and lit the joint, taking a long drag off of it then exhaling the thick pungent smoke.

"That's not a cigarette is it?" Craig nearly jumped in fright at the unexpected voice and jerked his head in the direction that it came from. Randy Marsh was sitting in one of the lawn chairs on the patio casually watching the teenager that had unknowingly joined him.

"Uh," Craig wasn't sure what to say exactly but he knew he couldn't say that he was actually smoking a cigarette when the smell was apparent that it was marijuana. "No it's not," he confessed. "Is this where you are going to tell me that I shouldn't be dating your son because I'm a bad influence?" he asked. Randy shook his head and went back to looking straight up at the stars.

"No, I'm not going to tell you that. Out of all the boyfriends Stan has ever had I think you are actually my favorite," he said while fumbling around with something that Craig couldn't quite make out because it was so dark out.

"Really? Why is that?" Craig asked surprised and brought the joint back to his lips for a moment.

"You seem to be the most real and down to earth. The others either seemed to be trying too hard to impress me and Sharon or they just didn't give a shit about us because all they cared about was Stan." Randy stated. Craig could finally see what it was that the older man was doing and was caught off guard when he saw Randy bring a small glass pipe to his lips and hold a lighter up to it for a moment before bringing it away and exhaling smoke that was similar to the dark haired teenager's. "As for being a bad influence," he coughed a few times as the smoke irritated his throat, "I'm pretty sure I've been a pretty bad influence on him all his life and he's turned out just fine."

"Stan told me that you smoke but I didn't think he actually was serious," Craig commented, still feeling a bit awkward smoking pot with his boyfriend's dad. Randy only nodded idly before taking another hit from his pipe. The two continued smoking in silence for a few minutes simply enjoying their high and the view of the night sky.

"So what's your philosophy on life?" Randy asked once he had taken his last hit for the evening. Craig glanced over at the older man, feeling pretty buzzed by this point.

"Don't fuck with me and I won't fuck with you," the dark haired teenager responded bluntly.

"You sound like a pretty angry person," Randy observed while staring out at the sky.

"I've got plenty to be angry about," Craig muttered before taking his last drag off the joint then dropping it to the ground to put out with his shoe.

"I understand though," Randy said quietly. "There's a lot that I'm angry with myself for. A lot of things I would have done differently for my son," he sounded jaded.

"Stan seems to really care about you," Craig assured. "I think you've done fine with him." Randy only gave a half smile and shook his head.

"You'll understand when you're older," he sighed. Craig just figured it was one of those weird parent things that you only understand once you've had a child and shrugged it off. He was having one of those rare moments where he felt completely happy. He was pretty high so almost everything felt amazing plus he was still thinking about how he and Stan had just made love for the first time. Without saying anything else to the other stoned man on the patio, Craig suddenly went back into the house and returned to Stan's room, slipping easily under the covers next to his sleeping lover. The light blue eyed teen was able to fall back asleep with Stan wrapped safely in his arms and his nose buried against the other boy breathing in his scent deeply.

* * *

"Hey, I'm not going to be able to hang out tonight," Craig sighed into the phone with frustration.

"Oh? What happened?" Stan asked worriedly. He wasn't too upset about his plans being cancelled for the evening because he and Craig were just going to hang out in his room to watch a movie or two.

"I've got to fucking babysit tonight," Craig spat out. "I don't understand why she even needs a babysitter, she's old enough to be alone in the house for a night or two. When I was her age I was already living on my own down here," he gestured around the basement he lived in even though Stan couldn't see it over the phone.

"Well maybe you can get to know her a little bit and bond with her since you don't see her very often," Stan suggested.

"I'm not even sure if I want to know her. She probably doesn't give a shit about me. Every time I have to babysit her she stays locked up in her room until her parents come home anyways," Craig said bitterly.

"Give it a try, dude," Stan urged gently as Craig muttered a few obscenities. "What time do your parents get back? Want me to come over once you're off babysitting duty?"

"I'm not really sure when they will be back. They got another call from my grandmother so they had to go check on her. I guess my mom would let me know later tonight when they are planning on being back," Craig told the other teenager.

"Just let me know okay?" Stan asked.

"Yeah sure. So what are you going to be doing tonight while I'm over here dying?" Craig inquired.

"Kyle's been wanting me to hang out so I'll probably go over to his place to chill," Stan answered.

"Have fun," Craig told him in his usual monotonous voice. "I love you."

"I love you too," Stan couldn't keep the smile off his face as he ended his phone call with his boyfriend. He pocketed his cell phone and grabbed his car keys before heading out the door for the short drive to Kyle's house. The dark haired teen parked in the Broflovski driveway and headed up the front steps to ring the doorbell and wait. Stan could hear the sound of someone approaching the door after a few minutes and finally the door swung open.

"Hey Stan! What's up?" Kyle greeted enthusiastically.

"Hey! Is it cool if I hang out with you tonight?" Stan asked his super best friend.

"Of course it is! Come in," the red head stepped aside to allow Stan over the threshold and then lead him upstairs to his room. "So what did you have in mind? Just whatever?"

"Yeah pretty much," Stan agreed when suddenly both teenagers heard a loud crash come from the next room. Kyle sighed and rubbed his temples before excusing himself from the room. Stan heard the door to the next room open.

"What the hell are you doing?" Stan heard Kyle nearly shout in frustration.

"I was trying to reach the top shelf in my closet but I just ended up knocking a bunch of stuff down," came the quiet response.

"Make sure you clean your room up before Mom and Dad get home," Kyle warned before coming back into his own room where Stan was waiting. "Sorry about that," Kyle apologized to his friend. "I got stuck babysitting tonight."

"So did Craig actually," Stan said.

"Isn't Craig's sister old enough to not need a baby sitter?" Kyle asked in confusion. "I mean she's like fifteen. Luckily after we graduate next year I won't have to babysit Ike anymore since I'll be going off to college. I don't know what my parents are going to do then."

"Yeah, Craig thinks it's ridiculous too but Mr. and Mrs. Tucker really baby her it seems," Stan agreed. The two friends settled in front of the TV and found a marathon of an old MTV dating show to watch. They had sat through three episodes when they heard a small knock on the bedroom door.

"Come in, Ike," Kyle called from the floor and the door opened up a crack at first then nearly all the way as Ike stood in the doorway.

"What are you doing?" the child asked before spotting Stan in the room. "Oh, Stan's here?" he asked excitedly. "Can I hang out with you guys please!" the dark haired boy pleaded.

"We aren't even doing anything, Ike. We're just watching TV and its nothing that will interest you," the red head said in annoyance.

"Aw come on, Kyle. We could play a video game with him or something," Stan suggested with sympathy for the little boy. Kyle sighed.

"Alright, fine," he muttered in defeat and dragged out his game controllers and chose a game for the three of them to play. Ike hurried into the room and plopped down on the floor next to Stan with an excited grin on his face. Stan looked over at the enthusiastic boy and gave him a big smile in return. The football player figured that Ike was at that age where he idolized his big brother and wanted to do everything that he was doing. He had gone through something similar with Shelly when he was younger, but eventually he gave up because she was generally pretty mean to him.

"Man, Ike you're pretty good at this game," Stan commented after the three had been playing for a while.

"Thanks!" Ike replied happily and gave the older boy another smile. Kyle remained completely focused until the level was over.

"Whenever Ike and I play a game together it's usually this one because this is the only one I have that interests him," Kyle explained.

"Yeah and I'm getting good at it too!" the youngest Broflovski gloated to his brother. Kyle rolled his eyes at him and lightly shoved his shoulder.

"So what else do you like doing, Ike?" Stan inquired. Ike turned his attention to the jock next to him and appeared pensive for a moment.

"I read a lot of books and I like drawing," he answered thoughtfully.

"What kind of books do you like to read?" Stan asked as Kyle huffed and began shutting his game system down.

"Mostly stuff with dragons and magic," Ike responded. "Sometimes I like some love stories," he admitted.

"Speaking of love stories," Kyle interjected, "what is your boyfriend planning on doing for your birthday, Stan? Its coming up soon and me and the guys wanted to do something for you but we don't want to interfere with anything that you and Craig are doing." Stan hadn't realized until Kyle asked that he wasn't even sure if Craig knew that his birthday was coming up in the next few weeks. This made Stan wonder when Craig's birthday was and if he had missed it since they began dating.

"I'm not really sure yet," the blue eyed teen answered honestly. "I'll let you know when we figure it out though." He didn't want to admit that he and his boyfriend didn't even know each other's birthdays. The room remained quiet for a few beats before Ike spoke up timidly.

"You have a boyfriend?" the young boy asked almost shyly.

"Yeah I do," Stan confirmed. Ike appeared confused.

"Aren't boys supposed to have girlfriends?" he questioned uncertainly. Stan looked over at Kyle in an attempt at signaling to him that he had no idea if the elder Broflovski would be okay with Stan explaining something like that to his little brother or not. Luckily Kyle intervened.

"People can be with whoever their heart tells them they are attracted to," Kyle explained. "Some boys are attracted to only girls," he said. "Stan is a boy," Kyle gestured to his friend, "and he is attracted to only other boys." Stan nodded his head in agreement. "There are also some boys that are attracted to other boys and girls. It works the other way around too. Some girls like only boys or only other girls and sometimes they like both. That's pretty much all I'm going to explain to you now because you're ten and I don't want to confuse you. You'll figure all this out when you get older and start having romantic feelings for other people."

"How come I've never heard about this or seen it?" Ike asked sincerely. Stan gave Ike an understanding look and Kyle glanced at Stan before proceeding. This was the part that always made him feel bad for his best friend.

"Not everyone completely understands the concept that I just explained to you. Many of the people who only are attracted to the opposite gender think that those are the only acceptable kinds of relationships. They don't understand that not everyone thinks the same way and sometimes they get angry about it and they try to make being in a different relationship very difficult. Do you understand?" Kyle asked his brother.

"Not exactly," Ike shook his head. Kyle looked over at Stan again to make sure the conversation wasn't upsetting him but Stan just gave his friend a reassuring nod.

"Well you know how Mom and Dad are married? They had a big ceremony with a rabbi and now they wear rings and have a lot of legal rights when it comes to each other," Kyle explained. Ike nodded in understanding. "Because not everyone accepts couples that are two men or two women, people like Stan can't get married in most states no matter how much they love each other. People get married for a lot of reasons, and you'll find out when you're older, but let's just say it really sucks when you want to marry the person you love but the government says you can't just because it's with someone that is the same sex as you." Ike looked conflicted and looked over at Stan sitting next to him.

"That's stupid! You should be able to marry the person you love," Ike said to the blue eyed teen. Stan smiled at him and ruffled his hair playfully.

"I'm glad you think so," the athlete laughed. "I can always just move to one of the states that allows it though. Of course I'm not ready for marriage just yet, I've got to get through this last year of high school and then college." Kyle glanced at the ornate analog clock that was mounted on his wall.

"I think it's time for you to go clean your room up then start getting ready for bed," the red head announced to his younger brother. Ike groaned.

"Do I have to? I'm having so much fun with you guys!" he pleaded.

"Yes you have to now go," Kyle stated and pointed towards his bedroom door. Ike rolled his eyes.

"Bye Stan," he chirped before giving the older raven haired boy a quick hug then hurrying off to his bedroom next to Kyle's.

"Whew! I was not expecting that conversation," Stan exclaimed, leaning back on the palms of his hands.

"Tell me about it," Kyle agreed. "It seemed like he was okay with the whole concept but he's so young you never know what his views on it are going to be later in life."

"Yeah, but maybe it will stay the same," Stan mused.

"Is Craig gay? He doesn't really strike me as it but you never know sometimes," Kyle wondered. Stan shook his head.

"No he's bi," Stan answered. "From what he's told me he's been with more ladies than guys but he's definitely been with a mix of both." Kyle made a noise of intrigue.

"So have you thought about what colleges to apply for and all that?" the Jewish teen inquired. Stan sighed.

"I've got a small list of schools to apply to. All of them are still in this state. It's all just so surreal and stressful," the raven haired boy admitted.

"Ugh, I know," Kyle sighed. "I really hope I get into my first choice. I can't wait for them to start accepting applications so I can send mine already and get it over with." Stan quirked an eyebrow and sat up straighter.

"Where is it at?" he asked.

"It's a medical school in California," Kyle explained. "You know how I wanted to be a doctor. What are you going to go for?"

"I'm going to be a high school history teacher," Stan revealed. Kyle looked impressed at his friend's career choice.

"That's pretty awesome, dude," the green eyed teen smiled.

"Thanks, I'm pretty excited about it," Stan responded happily. He didn't talk about it much, but Stan was actually looking forward to starting college the next school year. The idea of starting a new chapter in his life and moving forward to the first step in adulthood gave him a slight rush every time he thought about it. He was still waiting for Craig to decide what he wanted to do after high school, but either way all of the schools Stan had chosen were still in the state of Colorado so he wouldn't be too far from Craig if they did end up going to different schools.

* * *

Stan tore out an extra sheet of notebook paper when his math teacher instructed the class to work on problems out of the book for the rest of the period. On one page of notebook paper he wrote his name, the date, and the class period at the top then wrote out the first problem in the book a few lines under the heading. On the second piece of paper he scribbled out on the first line, "_Did you know my birthday is in two weeks?_" He folded the second piece of paper in half twice and then slid it over to the desk next to his, wedging it under the open cover of Craig's textbook. The pen in Craig's left hand faltered momentarily in solving the problem written on his paper before finding the solution and moving on to write out the next number. Craig never wrote in pencil even in math class, much to his teacher's annoyance. The dark haired teen put his pen down and pulled the folded piece of notebook paper out from under his textbook. He unfurled it and quickly read the first line before writing a response and passing it back over to Stan's desk then going back to his work.

"_No I didn't know that. What date exactly? I'll have to try to figure something out for it_." Stan looked over at his teacher's desk to make sure the coast was still clear and then wrote his answer down and returned the note to Craig. The light blue eyed boy unfolded the note again and looked it over for the new line of words.

"_October 19__th__.__Kyle actually asked me if I had any plans with you because he and the guys wanted to do something for me too. I told him I'd get back to him on it and then I got to thinking… I didn't think I had ever told you when my birthday is. When is yours? I haven't missed it have I?_" Craig thought about what Stan had written. It was strange that they had never thought to mention birthdays to each other, especially considering how serious their relationship had become. Once he had replied he left the note open and just pushed it a little closer to Stan's desk.

"_My birthday is in January but even if you had missed it you wouldn't have missed anything considering I never do anything for my birthday. I'll let you know when I think of a plan. You're going to be seventeen, right? There's no point in constantly folding this note up when we are sitting literally inches from each other and can just look over and read it when the other person is done writing." _He resumed his work as Stan leaned over and read what was written. The bell rang dismissing class before the jock had a chance to write a response and the couple quickly began packing up their belongings.

"Yeah I'm going to be seventeen," Stan answered Craig's question out loud as they made their way towards the door of the classroom. Craig merely nodded in acknowledgement of the answer he was given as the two headed towards their lockers. "Also, this year we will be doing something for your birthday," the shorter teen gave the other blue eyed boy an excited smile as he opened his locker and shoved his books inside to switch out for different ones. Craig pulled a face that looked like a mixture of disgust and thoughtfulness. Stan only laughed at the taller boy and shut his locker to lean against it as he waited for Craig to be ready to move on to the next class.

"Token is having a Halloween party next weekend. Will you go with me?" Craig asked when he finally got what he needed from his locker and began walking with Stan to their next classes. They didn't have the next period together but their classes were diagonal from each other on the same hall so they always walked together.

"Sure. Do we get to wear costumes and stuff?" Stan asked as they neared their destinations. Craig nodded and Stan broke out into a grin. "Awesome! I can't wait," he said excitedly. "See you after class." Stan gave Craig a quick hug and the taller teen kissed the top of his head during their embrace, earning them a disdainful look from some of the teachers standing in the hallway to greet their students as they entered their classrooms.

* * *

Stan sat shotgun next to Kyle in Kyle's Prius with Cartman and Kenny bickering in the backseat and Stan's favorite music playing through the speakers as Kyle drove them all to a location unknown to Stan. Kyle insisted that Stan shouldn't be the one driving on his birthday and had come to pick him up twenty minutes earlier to take him to some surprise location that Cartman and Kenny had helped plan. Craig had told him the day before that he had thought of something to do for his birthday but to go ahead and do whatever his friends had planned for him first and Craig would pick him up from there.

"Have you figured out where we are taking you yet?" Kyle asked with an excited smile on his lips. Stan studied the landmarks that they were driving passed and considered his options. Kenny and Cartman quieted down a little bit in the back seat to hear what their raven haired friend had to say.

"I might have an idea but I'm not really sure if it's right or not," Stan answered noncommittally. Kenny lunged forward in his seat behind Kyle to get his face closer to Stan's.

"Dude, it's going to be so awesome," he grinned and clapped his friend on the shoulder.

"Here we are," Kyle sing-songed as he pulled into the parking lot of Whistlin' Willy's. Stan stared at the building in amazement.

"Dude! We haven't been here since we were ten I can't believe this place is still running," Stan said. The teenagers piled out of the car and began making their way to the entrance.

"It's pretty sweet, huh?" Cartman commented. "We were all trying to think of what we should do for your birthday and I said 'it was so much easier when we were kids because our parents just took us to Whistlin' Willy's or Casa Bonita'."

"That's when Kyle thought of the idea of us taking you to one of those places," Kenny chimed in. "It would be like a fun, cheesy nostalgia trip." Kyle nodded as he held the door open for his friends. Kenny winked at the red head as he passed and added, "Kyle always comes up with the most thoughtful things." Kyle merely rolled his eyes at his blonde friend. The Jewish boy trotted to catch back up with his friends as they wandered over towards the dining tables to pick where they would sit.

"Unfortunately, Casa Bonita shut down two years ago due to bankruptcy," Kyle stated as the group sat down at a table and passed around the menus. "This place, however, is still doing pretty good for itself so here we are," he concluded.

"Ooh! Kyle!" Kenny exclaimed and jammed his menu on top of Kyle's while pointing at a specific item. "Can you order the breadsticks and split 'em with me?" Kyle sighed.

"Why can't you just order them for yourself? I know you are capable of eating all of them and then some," Kyle looked at the blonde next to him and asked. Kenny suddenly seemed embarrassed and shifted his eyes downward to the table.

"I already spent all the money I had for the week," he mumbled. Kyle's cheeks flushed a bit and his gaze lost its accusing look.

"Of course I'll order the breadsticks," he amended softly. "You can have them all though, I was going to get a salad." Stan was too busy looking around at the familiar surroundings to pay much attention to the two teens sitting across from him and Cartman. It seemed like nothing had changed in the restaurant since he had his tenth birthday party there.

"This is really awesome you guys," Stan said in awe. "I bet we are going to own at the arcade games!" Several slices of pizza and rounds of arcade games later Stan was thoroughly enjoying his seventeenth birthday so far. After a few hours Kyle pulled his cell phone out to check the time.

"Stan! You need to get out front. Craig is going to be picking you up any minute," Kyle told him. Stan gave his friend an apprehensive look.

"How do you know what time he's getting me?" Stan asked. Kyle smiled in his devious way again.

"I had to collaborate with him a bit to make sure both our plans for today would work out and not interfere with each other," the red head shrugged. "You need to get going though." Stan eyed him for a moment before giving in.

"Alright I'll go," he conceded. Cartman and Kenny came over to where he and Kyle were talking.

"I just won fifty tickets! Beat that, Jew!" Cartman gloated and held up a long ribbon of tickets clutched in his fist.

"Apparently I've got to get going," Stan announced to Kenny and Cartman. His portly friend appeared impassive but the dirty blonde wore a devilish grin on face. "This has been really awesome you guys. Thanks for bringing me here it's been a pretty fun birthday."

"Have fun," Kenny winked and threw an arm over Kyle's shoulders leading him back to the game he had just left. Stan went to stand out front to wait for Craig to show up. He shivered slightly when he stepped into the chilly October evening air. The sun had just started to set and the stars were barely visible in the orange and purple sky. Just as Stan was beginning to wonder how Craig was going to pick him up all the way on this side of town when he didn't have a car he saw Token's black Audi pull up to the curb in front of him. The back door opened and Craig stepped out onto the sidewalk to greet Stan. The shorter teen walked towards him and stopped to give his boyfriend a quick kiss.

"Hello there," Craig breathed onto Stan's lips once the kiss had been broken.

"Hi," Stan smiled and reached up to brush his fingers against the stubble growing on Craig's face. Craig had been too lazy to shave the last two days so he had a shadow of a beard and mustache growing in, not that Stan was complaining much. He thought that Craig's new facial hair just made him look that much sexier.

"Go ahead and get in," Craig gestured to the interior of the car and Stan realized that Craig was actually holding the door open for him. He blushed slightly at the romantic gesture and slid into the leather seat to buckle himself in as Craig shut the door and went around to get in on the other side.

"Hey, Token," Stan greeted his boyfriend's friend once he was settled into the car and Craig shut the door behind himself.

"Hey Stan. Happy birthday," Token replied with a smile and began driving. So far Stan's birthday had involved a lot of being driven to places he was unaware of. He immediately realized where they were headed once they got close enough.

"We're going to the school?" Stan asked apprehensively. No one answered him but Craig reached over and patted his hand. Token pulled into the parking lot next to the football field and stopped. Stan heard the trunk pop open and Craig began getting out of the car.

"You can get out now," Craig instructed as he went around to get the things out of the trunk. The younger teen did as he was told and by the time he walked around to the other side of the vehicle where Craig was he found his boyfriend leaning down towards the Token's rolled down window.

"Just give me a call when you guys are ready to go," Token said.

"Thanks," Craig patted the car door and stepped back as Token began driving off.

"What are we doing at the school?" Stan tried to ask again but Craig only shushed him and motioned for him to follow as he set off toward the football field. The two boys stopped once they were standing on the actual field and Craig spread out the blanket he had been carrying onto the grass and set down a tote bag.

"Have a seat," Craig suggested as he did the same and began pulling two wrapped slices of cake and two thermoses out of the tote bag. "I understand that you've already eaten dinner so how about some dessert?" Stan couldn't help but give his boyfriend an incredulous stare. He never thought Craig would come up with something so romantic. There was only one thing he was still unsure of.

"Why on the football field?" he asked as he took the cake that was being handed to him.

"Well you love it out here don't you? You're always out here on the field for practice or for games. I figured you have become somewhat emotionally attached to this field after putting so much into it over the passed three years," Craig explained. Stan smiled warmly at the other boy.

"Yeah I guess you're right about that," he sighed. "I think I might actually miss this field once we've graduated." He absent-mindedly ran his fingers through the grass by the blanket.

"There's hot chocolate in the thermos there," Craig motioned toward the red thermos sitting closest to Stan. They each grabbed a fork and began eating their cake in silence for a few moments.

"This is really sweet, Craig," Stan said to the light blue eyed boy across from him. "I really love this."

"I really love you," Craig responded. Stan chuckled a bit but Craig sat his plate empty plate down on the blanket in front of him. "I mean it Stan," he said softly. Stan's eyes flickered toward Craig's icy blue ones and he could see a tenderness in them that he had never seen reflected in them before. "I have never loved someone as much as I love you. You have this profound effect on me that no one else has ever done. You make me want to lay with you all day and listen to sappy Snow Patrol songs or something," he admitted. "You make me feel loved the way no one else ever has. I don't know what I would do without you." Stan could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He tried to blink them away and had to take a few breaths before he could speak.

"Craig," he whispered. "You are the most serious relationship I have ever been in and I feel like I love you so deeply. We are almost eighteen and out of high school and I'd really like to have a future with you. Maybe while we are in college we can move in together or something and after we graduate we could see about getting married. I really could see myself marrying you. I don't want to have to live without you," Stan confessed. Craig briefly looked conflicted and turned his face away to look at the ground.

"I just don't know about college Stan," Craig finally whispered. "I just don't know what I want to do. I would love to marry you but I don't know if I'm going to make it to college." He didn't seem to want to look Stan in the eye, too afraid of what he might say. Ever since it had been brought up by Stan's parents Craig had been plagued with the decision of what to do with himself after high school. The problem was that he couldn't see himself with any career and no idea what he would be going to college to do, not to mention the fact that if he did choose to go he would be doing it alone without the help of his parents. He just didn't know where he would get the money to do something like that.

"I'm not going to hate you if you don't go to college," Stan finally answered. Craig finally looked back into Stan's dark blue eyes. "As long as you make something of yourself. You are really smart and have so much potential, I know you'll find something to do that you enjoy." Stan leaned over the blanket and kissed Craig's slightly chapped lips. The taller teen smiled slightly, relieved that he had finally gotten that off of his chest.

"There's one more thing I have for you," Craig said and began digging through the tote bag once again before pulling out a small box wrapped in gift paper. Stan took the box and unwrapped it carefully, his hands shaking slightly. The shape of this box seemed awfully familiar. Once the paper was off he found that he was holding a little jewelry box. Nervous blue eyes met calm icy ones and he flipped the box open to reveal a simple silver ring with orange topaz stones set in the band.

"It's beautiful," Stan whispered, looking to Craig to find out what the ring symbolized for them.

"I went with your birthstone since I'm giving it to you as a birthday present. It's like a promise ring, is that okay?" he asked almost uncertainly.

"Of course!" Stan said excitedly. Craig looked relieved and took the ring from the box in Stan's hands. Stan held out his trembling left hand and Craig slipped the ring over his finger.

"Come here," Craig motioned for Stan to come closer to him and he had Stan lay against him between his legs with his back against Craig's chest. Craig wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and leaned down to his ear. "Look up," he whispered and Stan turned his eyes toward the night sky to see hundreds of stars scattered about. "Happy birthday, Stanley," Craig said quietly into Stan's ear again, his hot breath tickled slightly. Stan instantly knew that his feelings of love for Craig had permanently rooted itself in his being.

* * *

Stan parked his pickup truck by the curb past the Tucker's mailbox and made the very familiar trip through the yard on the side of the house and down the hill around back to the patio with the sliding glass door. The athlete could faintly hear the sound of smooth jazz playing on the other side of the glass and gave the door a few light knocks. After a moment the door slid open to reveal Craig looking as unfathomable as ever even though he happened to be wearing what appeared to be an astronaut suit. Stan cracked into a large grin but before the laughter could escape his lips Craig's were moving first. "Hold on, let me grab something and I'll be ready to go." Stan's face remained set in uncontrolled amusement as Craig left the doorway and the music stopped. The older teen returned to the door and stepped out onto the patio holding a round helmet and locked the door behind him. "Alright let's go," he said and attempted to begin the walk back up to the street where he knew Stan's truck was waiting but the other teen caught his wrist and kept him in place.

"Craig," Stan called innocently. Craig stopped in his tracks and turned to face the other boy with an eyebrow raised in question. "You make an adorable spaceman," Stan said through a huge grin. Craig rolled his eyes at his boyfriend's antics.

"And you make a…" the light blue eyed teen searched for the right word, "sexy pirate." Stan chuckled at the other dark haired boy's hesitance and struck a heroic pose. He wore a loose white puffy button up shirt with most of the top buttons left undone to expose his chest along with a black vest over the white shirt. On his head was a black captain's hat with the Jolly Rodger insignia on the front and his eyes were lined in black eyeliner. His black cut off pants were tattered and where a belt would have gone he had a long red scarf threaded through the belt loops and tied to where it hung down on one side. On his feet was a pair of beaten old black boots that stopped mid-shin.

"Actually," Stan said with an air of pride, "I'm an ass pirate."

"You have got to be kidding me," Craig deadpanned. Stan only shook his head. "Really?" Craig asked incredulously.

"It'll just be between you and me. After all, my booty belongs to you," Stan winked. Craig couldn't help but laugh at his boyfriend's corny joke.

"Let's go you homo," the taller noirette laughed and the two walked back up to the street to get into Stan's truck and head to the party at Token's house.

As soon as the two costumed teens entered the party Stan was instantly reminded of when he and Craig first got together. He thought of that night when he and Craig had shared a dance in the very house they were standing in and how much he now cared for the taller boy. Stan turned towards Craig and gave him a loving smile and stood on his tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "What was that for?" Craig asked.

"Just because I love you," Stan answered happily and earned a bit of a smirk from Craig. The taller teen then began leading the way into the kitchen to grab himself a beer.

"Want one?" Craig asked his boyfriend, motioning to the bottle in his hand.

"Nah, you know I don't really drink," Stan declined the offer. "Besides, I'm supposed to be the designated driver remember?" Just as Craig nodded in agreement and took his first swig from the bottle Token came up to him and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey man! Glad you made it!" the affluent boy greeted enthusiastically. Craig turned towards his friend and bro hugged him.

"Nice makeup," Craig complimented, referring to the way Token's face had been done up to look like a zombie.

"Thanks, Bebe came over and helped me with it. I think it'll scare the shit out of Tweek when he sees it," Token said. Craig took another sip from his beer.

"He will especially if he sees you after he's taken a few bumps," Craig agreed. Token looked over and noticed Stan standing close by observing all of the partygoers.

"Hey Stan, cool costume," the dark skinned boy called over to the football player in order to be heard over the party.

"Thanks! You look pretty awesome yourself," Stan said in amazement at the detail of Token's makeup.

"He's an ass pirate," Craig stated to his friend while gesturing over to Stan. Token broke into a fit of laughter.

"Hey!" Stan pouted. "You weren't supposed to tell anyone that," he smacked Craig's shoulder in irritation. Craig merely shrugged.

"Sorry, I just couldn't not tell him," he defended.

"Seriously Stan, it's pretty hilarious, especially knowing you two, but I won't mention it to anyone," Token appeased.

"Thank you," Stan said gratefully.

"Alright well I've got to go greet the other guests and stuff. You guys have fun," Token said and wandered off into the next room.

"You aren't really mad at me are you?" Craig asked the pirate next to him.

"I guess not," Stan admitted. Craig gave him another one of his smirks.

"Good," he responded and kissed the other boy's cheek before grabbing another bottle of beer.

"You already finished that other one?" Stan asked in surprise. Craig shrugged and took a sip from his new bottle just as a pretty brunette girl approached him.

"You're Craig Tucker, right?" the girl asked while eyeing him up and down.

"Yeah," Craig responded shortly wondering if he was supposed to know who the girl in front of him was.

"Oh I thought it was you!" she said happily and leaned a bit closer to him, her cleavage very apparent with her low cut shirt. "My friend told me that you really knew how to show her a good time. Maybe you could show me a thing or two?" The brunette reached out and ran her hand down the light blue eyed teen's arm. Craig shrugged her hand off of him.

"Sorry but I don't do that kind of thing anymore. I'm in a committed relationship now," he answered her in his stoic tone. The girl glanced around the immediate area before returning her gaze to the tall boy in front of her.

"I don't see her around anywhere," she remarked deviously. "She wouldn't know if you were gone for just a little bit." Craig sighed at the girl's continued advances.

"Actually she would know because she is right next to me," the dark haired teen stated and pulled Stan a bit closer to him so that the brunette could get a good look at him. She looked confused for a moment before she began to piece the whole scene together.

"You're in a committed relationship with a guy? But my friend said she had a one night stand with you," she whined.

"I probably did. I'm into men and women," Craig clarified. Before the girl could stomp away he added, "If you're really looking to get laid tonight find a guy named Kenny McCormick. He would be happy to help you out." She seemed to consider this for a moment before finally disappearing further into the party.

"I'm a woman now?" Stan asked since Craig had gone along with calling him a "she". Craig responded by reaching down and grabbing Stan's crotch. The shorter teen yelped at the unexpected touch and Craig leaned close to him.

"Nope, you're still a man," he smirked and gave Stan a deliberate rub before removing his hand.

"Damn it! Now I'm going to get a boner. I hope no one notices," Stan complained while attempting to situate his pants in a way that would conceal his semi-hard on.

"Come on, you can walk it off," Craig told him as he began leading the way out of the kitchen and into the living room. Stan gazed around him taking in his surroundings and noticed that the only difference between this party and the last one was that now all the unruly teenagers around them were disguised in various costumes. A sudden tap on his shoulder startled him out of his reverie and he quickly turned around to see who had touched him. Craig finished off his second beer as he looked over at Stan to make sure everything was alright. Stan found himself facing a mad scientist with fiery red hair.

"Kyle!" Stan shouted excitedly. "What are you doing here? I thought you hated parties."

"I figured since this is our last year of high school I should at least go to one party," Kyle explained. "Besides, everyone was talking about this one and it seemed like it would be fun to get to dress up. Cartman and Kenny are here too."

"Kenny's always at these parties," Stan laughed. "You know he lives for this kind of thing." Kyle nodded sagely in agreement.

"Hello Craig!" the red head waved over his friend's shoulder at the other teen. Craig tilted his head upward in greeting before sharply turning his attention across the room.

"Craig! Hey Craig!" Clyde was shouting and gesturing wildly to get his friend's attention. "C'mere! You've got to be on my team!" the brunette pointed down towards the general area of where the coffee table was located as if some game was being organized there although it wasn't visible from where Craig was standing.

"Do you mind?" Craig leaned down slightly closer to Stan's ear to ask permission.

"Go ahead," Stan shook his head. "I'll just hang around Kyle and Cartman for a bit." Craig remained in place as if assessing Stan for a moment before deciding it would be okay to leave his side then made his way through the crowded living room towards where Clyde had been gesturing. Stan followed Kyle out to the back yard where Cartman was talking loudly to a bored looking blonde girl.

"Hey Cartman I found Stan," Kyle announced once they had gotten close to him.

"That's nice, Jew," Cartman, who was of course dressed as Hitler, fluttered a dismissive hand in Kyle's general direction but the girl he was talking to had finally had enough.

"Look, I really need to go now," she said irritably and immediately walked off before Cartman could keep her there any longer. The large teen seemed stunned for a moment before quickly recovering.

"Fine, bitch, walk away," he sputtered indignantly. "You looked like a sperm bank anyways." Finally he turned his attention to his two friends, a look of irritation written plainly across his face. "This party blows," he said bitterly just as Kenny, dressed as a priest, sauntered up behind him and threw an arm over his shoulder.

"It's not the party that blows," the blonde smirked deviously and winked at Kyle and Stan before Cartman shoved him off of him. Kenny laughed at his friend's frustration. "Send my thanks to Craig for his referral," he said to Stan.

"Will do," Stan grinned and received confused looks from Kyle and Cartman. "Some chick wanted a quickie with Craig so he referred her to Kenny instead," he explained. Cartman shot Kenny a jealous look while Kyle simply rolled his eyes at his blonde friend's promiscuity. The four boys remained on the back patio joking around and watching partygoers as they came and went. Some of the people in the pool began a game of chicken that turned into an epic battle when it got down to the last two players left on their partner's shoulders.

"Hey Marsh!" Stan looked around to find who had called to him when he noticed four guys that looked vaguely familiar coming towards where he and his friends were standing. Finally Stan recognized the four teens as being players on the North Park football team.

"Hey what's up?" Stan greeted with uncertainty. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh we heard you South Park kids were having a little party so we decided to come check it out. It's not bad," the guy that Stan recognized as the captain of the North Park football team said in a bit of a taunting voice. Kenny, Kyle, and Cartman bristled a bit at the guy's tone but it was Cartman that cut to the chase.

"So what the hell do you guys want?" Cartman asked coldly.

"Oh nothing really," the football captain spoke again. It appeared as though the other three guys that flanked him were there to simply give off haughty glares. "Like I said, we came to check out the party," he gave a nasty smile. "Oh, and to see if the rumors were true," he added as an afterthought.

"What rumors?" Kenny demanded as he glared daggers at the unwelcome visitors.

"You know," the captain said while never breaking eye contact with Stan, "the ones about South Park using a faggot as a quarterback." He broke into a malicious grin. Stan felt his stomach drop but he refused to give away any hint that he had been affected by the harsh words.

"You shut your fucking mouth," Kenny growled back at the leering teen that stood a few feet away from him. The captain ignored Kenny and continued to stare at Stan.

"Is it true then, Marsh? Are you a faggot?" he sneered. Stan did his best to remain calm as he glared icily back at the boy in front of him.

"It's true that I am gay," Stan answered unashamed. "I don't see why you are so concerned about it though," he said stiffly. The captain gave an exaggerated look of offense.

"Well of course I'm going to be concerned about playing against someone that is going to try to feel everybody up the next time we are on the field together," he said with disgust in his voice. By this point several people that had been milling around the patio area were watching the tense scene in intrigue. Stan was so flustered by the other jock's ignorance that he almost found it difficult to form a proper sentence to respond with.

"Are you kidding? Just because- I can't believe- Why in the hell would I be "feeling everybody up" in the middle of a game even if for some reason I felt the need to? That's the stupidest fucking thing," he shouted back. He took a deep breath then finally said, "Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'm attracted to every guy I see. I'm especially not attracted to you," he spat. Anger flashed across the captain's eyes.

"I would just be careful if I were you next time you play my team on our turf," he threatened. "We don't tolerate faggots on _our_ team."

"Come on, Stan, let's just go back inside," Kyle muttered weakly as he tugged on Stan's shirt to get his attention. Kenny and Cartman continued staring down the unfriendly football players until Stan finally relented and turned to go back inside with his friends. All the people that had been watching the confrontation were still glued to the spot; they had been half expecting a fight to break out. Just as Stan crossed the threshold back into the house he heard the distinct noise of the captain scoffing.

"It figures he would run away," he heard the jock saying loudly from outside. "He's probably going to go cry in a corner now. No wonder South Park has such a shitty football team, they let a bunch of cocksuckers on the team. _Literally_." Stan could feel his hands shaking out of anger but refused to give that asshole the pleasure of knowing that he had gotten to him.

"Are you going to be okay, Stan?" Kyle asked gingerly, not wanting to set his friend off.

"Don't listen to that fuck face, Stan," Kenny said angrily.

"I bet that guy is just as much of a faggot as you are," Cartman added as his way of cheering up his seething raven-haired friend. It was clear in his tone that he felt that he was the only one who was allowed to call Stan a "faggot" because it was only okay when he said it. Much like when he called Kyle a "Jew" and Kenny "poor white trash", if he heard anyone else calling his friends by those names so help them it may be the last thing they do. Stan continued marching inside the house with his friends trailing behind him as he began quickly scanning the crowd for any sign of Craig. He finally spotted the taller boy chatting with Tweek who seemed to be eyeing everyone suspiciously and running his hands up and down his arms constantly as he occasionally added his thoughts to the conversation.

"I'm ready to go," Stan told Craig as soon as he was close enough to him to be heard over the loud music and many conversations around them.

"Hey baby," Craig slurred as he staggered over to Stan and planted a clumsy kiss on his lips. Stan tasted something much stronger than beer on Craig's breath.

"What have you been drinking?" Stan asked as he scrunched up his nose, not much enjoying the lingering flavor on his lips.

"Tequila," Craig answered as he grabbed a hold of Stan's shoulders and gave him a somewhat studying gaze. "You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Stan told him. "I just want to get out of here," he deflected but even Craig could tell that Stan seemed tense. He lifted his light blue gaze unsteadily to Stan's entourage behind him to gauge their expressions. They all looked a bit sour.

"What happened?" Craig asked again with his intense eyes upon Kenny, Kyle, and Cartman.

"Just don't worry about it, dude. Go home with Stan," Kenny said but Kyle spoke up and contradicted him.

"Some guy from the North Park football team was giving Stan a hard time because he found out that Stan is gay," the red head informed the inebriated teen. It was obvious Craig was instantly pissed off.

"Where is he?" he demanded.

"He was outside," Kyle answered before Kenny could stop him. Craig was gone in an instant and Kenny rounded on Kyle.

"Shit dude you shouldn't have said anything!" Kenny shouted. Realization dawned on Stan and he felt his previous feelings of anger dissolve into fear.

"Oh shit," he whispered.

"What? What is going on?" Kyle asked worriedly.

"Craig is notorious for fucking people up at parties," said Kenny. Kyle covered his mouth with his hands, his eyes wide.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," he apologized desperately.

"I don't see what the big deal is," said Cartman. "I think it's going to be interesting to watch Stan's boyfriend beat the shit out of that guy." All four of them hurried back to the patio just in time to see Craig storming up to the football captain.

"Fuck! There's four of them and Craig is going to try to take them all. What if he gets arrested?" Stan said frantically as he and his friends stayed back on the patio. Stan had never seen Craig this angry before. The spectators from the previous confrontation took notice of Craig making his way over to the offending football player. The captain watched with interest as the tall dark haired teen came staggering up to him.

"Can I help you?" the captain asked insolently, sizing up the intoxicated boy in front of him.

"You're the one that's going to be needing help," said Craig dangerously.

"Am I?" the captain asked looking as though Craig had just told a hilarious joke.

"Yeah, since you seem to have such a problem with people being gay we're going to see how much you like it when my foot is shoved so far up your ass you'll have to shit through your mouth, which shouldn't make much of a difference because it seems like all you do is talk shit anyways," Craig responded. The captain merely laughed.

"You must be Marsh's little boyfriend," the preppy teen retorted condescendingly even though Craig was a head taller than him.

"Yeah, I am," said Craig and he landed a hard punch right in the captain's stomach. The captain staggered backwards a few steps and was bent double with his arms wrapped around his middle. The captain's cronies seemed too stunned by the sudden attack to move. The captain spat onto the ground and straightened up, a look of determined fury set upon his face, and he came at Craig with his fist raised. If Craig hadn't been so drunk he may have been able to dodge the punch but he ended up taking it right on his cheekbone. The captain's lips twitched into a satisfied smirk but then Craig managed to get in a well aimed punch to the side of his head with enough force behind it to knock the other boy into the pool. The other North Park boys looked as though they were ready to fight Craig too but noticed that their captain didn't seem to be moving. "I'd get him out if I were you," Craig told them in his steady tone. "He's probably knocked out." The three jocks immediately jumped into the pool to retrieve their friend as Craig turned away from them and began making his way back over to the patio.

"Craig," Stan breathed wrapping his arms around his boyfriend once he had returned to where he and his friends had been watching the scene. "I'm so glad you're okay," he looked up at Craig's face, which was already starting to look swollen and bruised where he had been punched. "You didn't need to do that. What if someone called the cops on you for beating the shit out of that guy," Stan admonished.

"I don't give a fuck," Craig said rather loudly. "That prick can't just go running his mouth about whatever he wants." Stan's friends shot him a wary look but the noirette ignored them.

"Let's get you home," said Stan as he encouraged Craig to lean on him for support. The light blue eyed teen seemed to be swaying on the spot.

"Lemme get another drink firs'," Craig slurred as Stan led the way to the front door.

"No, you've had enough to drink," Stan told him firmly. It was difficult getting Craig situated into the passenger seat of his truck because as soon as Stan had succeeded in getting all of his limbs into the vehicle he turned right back out of it and puked all over the curb. Once he had emptied the contents of his stomach he became nothing more than dead weight and Stan had to maneuver him back into the seat and buckle him in. The drive back to the Tucker's house was silent as it seemed that Craig had finally passed out.

It took several attempts for Stan to get Craig to wake up so that he wouldn't have to carry the taller boy all the way down to his basement but he was finally able to rouse the other teen and persuade him to heavily lean on his shoulder as he led the way down to the patio. Stan dug through Craig's pockets until he finally found the key to the door and quickly unlocked it before sliding the glass aside and dragging Craig over to his bed. The springs in the mattress creaked under the weight of the drunken teen as Stan laid him down gently on it. A sigh escaped the athlete's lips as he gazed down at the unconscious form laid out before him. He had never had to take care of anyone who had gotten shit-faced before and felt uncertain about the whole situation. Maybe he should have a talk with Craig about it whenever he was feeling better. Stan began going through his boyfriend's dresser and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and boxers and struggled to change Craig out of his astronaut costume and into the clean clothes. Once Craig was changed, Stan decided to borrow some of the other boy's underwear and pajama pants and then text Kyle to let him know that he had gotten to Craig's house safely and that he would be spending the night there to take care of him. The raven haired teen placed his phone on the small table that stood next to Craig's bed and crawled under the covers next to his boyfriend's passed out form and fell asleep beside him.

The next morning Stan woke up around nine thirty and groggily looked over to where Craig was still snoozing away. He climbed over the sleeping teen and checked his phone to see that he had several worried texts from his parents demanding why he hadn't come home last night. He sent a quick text to his mom explaining that he had stayed the night at Craig's house and that he would be coming home in a few hours before replacing his phone on the end table and shuffling off to the small bathroom on the other side of the basement to take a quick shower. Stan emerged from the bathroom twenty minutes later feeling quite refreshed and padded his way back over to Craig's bedroom area to borrow some more of his boyfriend's clothes so he would have something to wear back home other than his pirate costume. He found Craig blearily sitting up on the edge of the bed with a swollen black and blue bruise under his left eye and looking rather pale.

"Hey babe. You okay?" Stan asked gently as he sat down on the bed, still in his towel, next to Craig. Craig turned his squinted gaze toward Stan and merely stared at him for a few moments. "Got a hangover?" Stan surmised and received a pained nod from the light blue eyed boy next to him. "I'll get you some water," he began then noted how pale Craig looked. "And a trashcan just in case," he added. Stan dressed in some of Craig's clothes hurriedly and then busied himself with fixing Craig up to be as comfortable as possible which included changing the bag in the trashcan twice after Craig threw up his ibuprofen and then his breakfast.

"I'm going to have to go soon, will you be okay by yourself?" asked Stan when he noticed that it was already nearly one in the afternoon. He needed to get home and work on a project for English class that was due on Monday. Craig groaned as he sat up a little more in bed.

"What happened last night?" the hung over teen questioned groggily and winced as he touched the swollen place below his eye. Stan shifted uncomfortably where he stood and wondered if Craig remembered any of the night at all or if he just couldn't remember how he got his black eye.

"Well, there was this guy that was giving me a hard time so you got in a fight with him," Stan answered. Craig didn't seem surprised by this news, it seemed that he was used to getting into drunken fights and not remembering them the next morning.

"Did I at least hit him since he managed to do this to me?" Craig asked and motioned to his eye.

"You knocked him into the pool actually," Stan informed him hesitantly. Craig appeared to be absorbing the information for a moment. "You really need to stop fighting people, Craig. What if you someone called the cops on you and you end up getting arrested?" Stan turned his concerned blue eyes on his boyfriend in hopes of getting his message across.

"I've already been arrested once," Craig simply replied causing Stan's eyes to widen slightly. "I'm not allowed back at the movie theater in North Park." Stan shook his head.

"Really though, Craig, be more careful. I love you too much for anything bad to happen to you," he bent down and kissed the other raven haired teen's forehead. "I'm going to get home to work on that English project. I'll talk to you later." Craig nodded and closed his eyes ready to fall back asleep.

* * *

Christine Tucker sat at her desk on a typical Monday morning. So far the day had gone pretty well. She woke up on time and was able to make a decent breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, which her husband and daughter appreciated. She saw her husband off to work and drove her daughter to school before heading to work herself. She was able to get a good parking space today and there hadn't been any major crisis so far to load her down with paper work. If only _he_ wouldn't bother her today then she could call the day nearly perfect. Of course no sooner had the thought entered her mind a man in his mid forties came strolling down the hall towards her desk.

"Why hello, Christine," the man greeted and flashed her a large smile.

"Hi, Charles," she replied tersely and attempted to make it appear as though she were too busy to chat. Of course this never worked.

"That's a nice blouse you're wearing today. Is it new?" Charles asked in a way that made Christine wish she were wearing a baggy turtle neck sweater.

"No, I've had this one for awhile," she answered, still refusing to make eye contact and trying to look busy with some paper work.

"What are you wearing underneath there?" Charles asked which made Christine immediately look over at him with her face turning a bright shade of red.

"Ex-excuse me?" she stammered. Charles smirked.

"Under that desk," his eyes roved down her body. "I'm just asking what you've got on under that desk. No need to get all flustered, look how red you are," he teased.

"Oh, um," Christine was feeling incredibly uncomfortable and wished the man would just go away. What made it worse was that Charles wasn't exactly bad looking. He was tall and had a handsome face with striking green eyes and very dark brown hair. "Just a skirt and some boots," Christine mumbled.

"How about you come get some coffee with me during lunch," Charles offered. "I'm buying. You can even get some pastries to go with it if you want." He still had that smile on his face that made Christine wish she could slap it off of him.

"You know my husband doesn't like me hanging around you," she warned weakly. Something about this man just made her feel weak and intimidated.

"He's not here right now. What he doesn't know won't hurt," he replied. "Besides, that didn't stop you before." Was it just her or had he gotten extremely close to her over the course of their conversation? Just as she began to truly panic another man came walking down the hallway. The man took note of the panic stricken secretary and the lecherous man leaning over her desk. Christine finally noticed the other man and felt somewhat relieved.

"Mr. Marsh!" she called out hoping she didn't sound too frantic.

"'Morning everyone," Randy Marsh greeted as he approached his two co-workers. "What are you two up to?" he asked cheerfully.

"I was just inviting Christine to get some coffee with me over lunch break," Charles informed coolly. Christine managed to catch Randy's eye and an unspoken communication was established.

"That sounds like fun, but unfortunately Christine and I are going to have to work on that Greeley file straight through lunch to meet the deadline. That was a big one, huh?" Randy nudged Charles with his elbow jovially. "Anyways, Christine, could you file these papers for me and make the phone call that's noted on the top page. It's pretty important." Charles was shooting Randy a dirty look and was slowly retreating from the desk as if waiting for Randy to disappear into his office to try to make another pass. Christine began looking at the papers that Randy had placed on her desk and realized that they were actually dates for all the games the Denver Broncos were playing that season as well as a few to do lists. The note on the first page wasn't even a phone number, it was just a reminder written on a sticky note that said "Remember to pick up milk". Noticing that Charles was still lurking around she picked up the phone from her desk and began dialing her house phone number to make it look like she was calling the important number as Randy closed the door to his office behind him. Charles ended up skulking away defeated. Not too long after Charles had vanished, Randy poked his head of his office door.

"Is he gone?" he asked. Christine sighed and nodded.

"Thank you so much for that Mr. Marsh," she murmured. Randy pulled a face.

"You know, I wish you would just call me by my first name," he said.

"Yes, I know, but I think it would be better if I just keep it professional," she said. Randy shook his head.

"I don't see why you don't get that guy for sexual harassment. He's been doing this for years. Hell, he even creeps me out sometimes," Randy complained. Christine adjusted a few pictures on her desk of her daughter and sighed again.

"I just don't want to make a big fuss. I don't want it to turn into some huge thing and then my husband might get involved…" she trailed off not wanting to think about what would happen if she were involved in another work related scandal. She never really recovered from the first one. Randy noticed the pictures of Christine's daughter that she had been fixing.

"How old is Ruby now?" he asked conversationally. Christine seemed almost surprised he was asking about her child.

"She's fifteen," she answered. Randy whistled.

"Jesus I feel old," he smiled. Christine sighed.

"I feel the same way sometimes whenever she shows signs of getting older," she gazed intently at the school picture of Ruby that was taken when she was in fourth grade.

"You uh, don't have any pictures of, um, your son?" Randy floundered.

Christine said somewhat tensely, "No I don't." She seemed to not want to add a reason.

"Ah," said Randy. Sensing that Christine didn't wish to discuss the subject any further he thought of something else to say. "My son is graduating this year. If that doesn't make me feel old I don't know what will," he laughed. Christine smiled again.

"That's right you do have a son. I just remember you bringing your daughter to the office when she was younger. I don't think I've ever seen your son," she said.

"Yeah, back then we couldn't afford a baby sitter all the time so I had to bring her here some days," said Randy.

"It's Shelly, right?" Christine asked and Randy nodded. There was a moment of awkward silence between the two. "We'd better get to work before Charles comes back through here and sees I'm not actually too busy to be hit on," she shuddered.

"I'm telling you, you should get him for sexual harassment. This has been going on for years! What in the world makes him think he has the right to act that way towards you?" Randy complained. Christine felt her face go red from embarrassment.

"I just don't want Thomas to know he's still causing trouble. I don't want to get into anymore drama with that man," she sounded almost frightened. Randy threw his hands up in defeat and retreated back into his office muttering about "tall, dark, and handsome" and "like he casts a spell on women". Once the door to the office was shut Christine pulled out a drawer from her desk and lifted a few papers to reveal an old baby picture of Craig that was taken when he was around three. She felt tears sting her eyes as she studied the picture. At least her day had started out well enough, now she just felt reminded of how complicated and stressful her life really was.

* * *

A/N: So I'm really excited to be posting this! I've been working on this story for over a year and it still isn't even half way done. I've had A LOT of stuff going on in my life which makes it difficult to keep up with writing consistently. This story has been nonstop in my head for over a year. I can't wait to get it all out so that you guys can read it. This is going to be a "series". I'm breaking it into three "books" with each book containing two chapters. I'm also going to include a semi-short prologue story after this story is completed. Just have patience with my updates and stick it out to the end because this one is going to be my favorite so far. Thanks for reading!


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